Re:Edoras
by CerberAsta
Summary: A new beginning leads into a different story. The factions collide in new and interesting ways as the Fairy Tailers who survived travel through Edoras, trying to save their friends from a complete monster... Sequel to Beneath the Surface
1. The Slightly Different Beginning

**Re:Edoras**

**...**

**Chapter One: The Slightly Different Beginning**

**Well, I'm back again. While writing Beneath the Surface over the course of roughly a year, Mashima was doing... rather poorly... the Edoras Arc. There are numerous complaints of unused potential (Edo-Tail, the use of External Magic Weapons), plot devices (X-Balls, Prince Gérard in general), uninteresting characters (...everyone who is not Edo-Tail), and just a generally poorly done arc. Mashima is generally **_**not**_** a bad writer, as Fighting Festival and Phantom Lord have shown us, but... Edoras has been rather poor.**

**So, Ocil and I wanted to fix it. Mostly because it means we get to be mean to the characters. This first chapter will be... somewhat unchanged in comparison to the original, but how close it is to the original will change as time goes on.**

**If you haven't read Beneath the Surface, there will be a few events referenced that you may not catch, but it won't ruin your enjoyment. The only things you'll need to know is that Beneath the Surface was a crackfic which resulted in Erza and Lucy getting together and a succubus named Paizuri joining. Also, Gildartz arrived at the end of the story, during a large fight. The rest you'll catch within the story.**

**Final thing. Jellal is canon, but... Gérard is cooler. So there.**

Natsu walked into the small house Gildartz was allowed by Magnolia, constructed loosely, as the grandest, safest construction could be easily destroyed should he not be careful. The strongest mage in Fairy Tail had especially asked Natsu to come by his house after their celebrations at the beach had ended. Gildartz had talked with Master Makarov about something, in private, before telling the others he wanted to rest in his usual spot for a bit, and the beach wasn't really for him. Despite the great protest, he insisted, and they eventually left him alone (though he did accidentally knock a few of them silly, Natsu twice over).

When Natsu had gotten back from the beach celebrations, Makarov told him Gildartz had wanted to talk to him. A bit confused, the pink-haired Dragon Slayer since obliged. He shut the door behind and grinned, looking over at his idol. Gildartz grinned back at him, sitting in the chair with his feet propped up.

"How's your relationship with Lisanna goin', Natsu? Don't be shy!" Gildartz said, laughing.

Natsu's insides went cold, and his entire body tensed up. Gildartz noticed it and a chill went through his body. What happened?

"Lisanna is dead... Two years ago...," Natsu murmured.

The cold chill became arctic temperatures, and Gildartz's mind tumbled. His hands shook for a moment, and grief hit him like a brick.

"S-seriously! Damn... That's why Mira... I'm sorry, Natsu," he said, stumbling over his words.

"If it was just about that, I'll be leaving," Natsu said, beginning to turn around.

Gildartz shook himself. Natsu had to hear this. The grief over one of his comrades could come later.

"Natsu... I met a dragon," Gildartz said, noting Natsu completely freeze at the news, "I don't think it was the red one you were talking about. It was black."

"Wh... where...," Natsu asked, as he and Happy stared at the Crash Mage.

"At the sacred mountain Zonia. That's how I failed the mission, dammit," Gildartz groaned, looking up at the ceiling.

Natsu whirled about and started to run, when Gildartz called after him, "What're you gonna do by going there?"

"What do you think? I ask about Igneel's whereabouts!" Natsu replied, bursting with energy and purpose.

"The black dragon won't be there. He's flying around the continent... perhaps the whole world," Gildartz said, getting up.

"Even so, there may be some clue!"

"Natsu... look at this..."

Gildartz opened up his cloak, to reveal his body covered in severe bandages. His left leg was replaced with some odd, prosthetic one, as was his left arm. Natsu stared at the intense damage to Gildartz, of all people. The Crash Mage stared at Natsu with determination in his eyes.

"Everything happened in a moment. It got my left leg and arm... tore out a bit of my insides, too. I don't know about Igneel, but that black one is surely an enemy of humanity. And... A human can't beat him."

"That's what Dragon Slayers are there for!" Natsu shouted, looking worried, nonetheless, "With my magic... A black dragon is..."

"I won't stop you if you resist."

"DAMN IT!" Natsu shouted, running out.

"NATSU!" Happy called after him, too slow to catch up.

"Happy. You support Natsu, alright? Humans can't go against that thing, but perhaps a dragon can make it," Gildartz said, chuckling, "And Natsu... has the power of a dragon... Something even I don't got."

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Makarov sat on the bar, gently sipping his brew. Mirajane busily chatted with a few of the customers. The Master chuckled to himself, thinking on what had happened recently. The pitter-patter of rain sounded around them, as it began to storm a bit.

"There're three Dragon Slayers in this guild... Porylusica, this is exactly what you said... Fate has started to make its move...," Makarov muttered.

He looked up, setting down his cup. There was a charge in the air. Well, this should prove interesting. Was it fate? Perhaps.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Natsu ran through Magnolia, off towards the mountains, the Black Dragon. He could find Igneel, his father, the person he cared for so much, who had protected him in turn.

"SHIT! DAMN IT!" he shouted, as the rain came down, drenching him.

The stony path, drenched now with the rain, became more slippery. Natsu kept going, getting more desperate as the idea of finding Igneel consumed his mind. He became careless, uncoordinated, before finally slipping and falling, face first, in a puddle of water. He managed to roll over, looking up at the rain clouds, noticing a whirl in them.

"I just... want to know... how my dad's doing," he lamented, images of Igneel filling his mind.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Wendy, Charle, and Paizuri lounged in Wendy's room. Paizuri had gone for the attempt to look human as often as possible, and was practicing with a light skin tone and pitch-black hair. She was still as tall as the average adult female, with smaller cleavage than normal. Succubae could shift their body's proportions, and Paizuri tried to tone down the sex appeal around Wendy. Really, she did.

"Charle," Wendy said, calmly with a hint of nervousness, "Natsu says you gave Happy a fish."

Charle waited for a few moments, looking at Wendy with a quirked brow, before nodding.

"Well... I just wanted to say that I'm glad you did that."

Charle sighed, "It was an attempt to be nice, at your insistence. There's something unsettling about Happy, honestly."

"Eh, he seems pretty normal for a talking cat that can spontaneously grow wings," Paizuri offhandedly remarked, a touch of sarcasm in her voice.

Charle glared at the succubus, who busily examined her own fingernails for a moment, before sending an infuriating wink the cat's way. Wendy giggled a bit, before looking over at Charle.

"Why do you find Happy unsettling? He's nice and brave and stuff!" Wendy said.

"The ideal guy for you, actually, given that he's fun-loving and you hate the stuff," Paizuri muttered, before grinning at the cat, who glared back.

"Be nice, you two."

"Yes, Wendy."

"I find him unsettling because... well... there are things he should remember." 

"Oh, you don't like him because he has bad memory?" Wendy asked.

Charle looked down for a moment, then back up at Wendy, and shrugged.

"Silly Charle, Lucy and Zuri told me all men have bad memory!"

"It's true. Do you know how many wives told me about how their husbands forgot their anniversaries?" Paizuri asked, giving a thoughtful look to Charle.

"...And how many of them told you this over drinks?" Charle asked, a tone of disgust in her voice.

"Be nice!" Wendy said, pouting.

"Eh, only a few of 'em. Most were already in bed. Hey, she asked," Paizuri said, defensively, in response to the annoyed look Wendy had on her face.

"Well, his memory problem is a little more than just forgetting something. This is something... important," Charle said.

"Maybe you could jog his memory?" Wendy asked.

"There's an idea," Paizuri said, "Bring up some part of the memory, or just tell him, and say it hurt that he forgot." 

"...That's actually pretty good relationship advice," Wendy said.

"And just think: I've never actually _been_ in a dating relationship."

"I think you should talk with him," Wendy said, insistently.

Charle stood up after a moment, sighing, "I will think about it, on my own. I think I'll go flying..."

"In this weather?" Wendy asked.

"I will be fine." 

"I'll come after you if you're not back before too long," Wendy said.

Charle nodded, impatiently, and then walked out the door. Zuri looked at Wendy, with a light smile on her face.

"Poor dear doesn't even know she's head over heels. Is she always this slow?" Zuri asked, chuckling.

"Well... I'm pretty sure everyone's a little blind about that sort of thing," Wendy said.

Zuri shrugged, and the two continued to quietly lie about. Wendy continued reading while Zuri continued perfecting her nails. After finishing both hands, Zuri looked over to Wendy.

"You know, I could do something with your nails, too," Zuri said.

"I'm good. I don't really like make-up that much," Wendy said.

"What do you like?" Zuri asked, curiously.

Wendy looked up, thoughtfully, "Mystery books... lying out on the grass, peacefully... sandcastles... drawing things."

"I really need to expand my horizons, because I don't think I've ever done that. Except for the sandcastle, and that was only that one time. That was a fun day."

Wendy giggled for a moment, "You really haven't done a lot, have you?"

Paizuri sat up straight, looking at Wendy with a mock indignant expression, "Oh, really, now?"

"...that doesn't count, cuz it's icky."

"When you're fourteen, that'll all change. I just gave myself the creeps, god, what am I _saying_?" Zuri babbled, shuddering.

Wendy stared at the succubus for a moment, in a little bit of shock.

"Why is it you're so creeped out when it concerns me?" Wendy asked.

"Because I can't think of you in that light without involuntarily shuddering? Probably got something to do with me seeing you as _pure_, which is a big reason why you're so attractive to me."

Wendy blushed for a moment, embarrassed by the compliment, before sitting up straight upon hearing a knocking at the door. A moment after the knock, it opened, revealing Erza, whose brows were knitted together, her eyes narrowed. She looked first at Wendy, who shrunk back, reflexively, and then at Paizuri, who looked back up at her, an eyebrow raised.

"We need to talk," Erza said.

"Later, Wendy, Erza'll have me mopping floors for the next hour probably," Zuri said.

"Awwww... go nice on Zuri, please? Charle's out and could get hurt and I want Zuri with me if I have to go find her," Wendy pleaded.

"I will send her back to you, shortly," Erza said.

Wendy smiled as they left. Zuri and Erza, however, were not smiling, the moment they were out the door.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Erza pulled Zuri into her room, where Lucy was busy working on her novel. The Knight pushed Zuri, forcefully, into the chair, and then stood back, glaring at her.

"You did _what_ to Juvia in her sleep?"

"Actually, I don't know that myself. She'd have to tell you. _I _was asleep, too," Zuri said, crossing her arms.

"You did the same thing to Levi, Cana, _and_ Mirajane. Lucy had suspicious dream last night, while I was out on patrol, so I wonder if you visited her last night, too." 

"Might've, I dunno. Like I said, unconscious for the whole process. Sleep sexing!"

"...Why should I believe that?" Erza asked.

Zuri immediately got to her feet, then dove under Erza's bed for a moment. She reached around for a moment, then pulled out a small book, which she tossed to Lucy, who squealed in fright.

"You've got those reading glasses, right?" Zuri asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"Flip through that, while I exposit this to Erza myself. You can confirm it all."

"Okay," Lucy mumbled as she dug around for her magical glasses.

"Explain," Erza commanded.

"Do you know how sexy that is? Damn. Anyways, here's how it goes. Every couple hundred years, succubae undergo a naming ritual. It's kind of a demonstration of skill, really, because you get your name based on what you display particular excellence at doing. I've been known as Paizuri for all my life."

"So, why does that include you going around _molesting_ everyone in their sleep?"

"Because I'm so used to just having a ton of sex right before the ritual. If I don't, ya' know, practice enough, my body just sort of takes over. Kinda mechanical, so I'm sure Juvia was not at all satisfied with that."

"...Well, I won't go into the details on that," Erza muttered.

"Hey, she didn't wake me up screaming, so I obviously didn't do that good of a job. It's insulting, really."

"...Any possibility of a conversation about your biology that doesn't involve sex?"

"Well, there's the soul-eating thing, but I don't really like talking about that. Eating souls is not fun. Sex is _all_ kinds of good."

"Lucy? Can you confirm it?" Erza asked.

Lucy nodded, closing the book, "That and far more things than I ever really wanted to know. Did you really not used to wear clothes?"

"Oh, please, we still don't wear clothes when we can help it. I mean, we do it freely for human society, to blend in and mingle, but that's about it. Did you see the chapter about how many different techniques we invented, all for the sole purpose of making our beasts of burden work harder?"

"Don't remind me, I'm trying to forget it."

Zuri chuckled, mischievously, "You liked it, you know it."

"No, that's creepy as hell!"

Zuri shrugged, "To each their own. Anyways, about the ritual... See, I need to get there, and I'd really appreciate if I had some company. Not many people actually get to visit the succubus village."

Erza crossed her arms and glared down at Zuri, "That sounds... like several bad ideas all rolled into one."

"Well, it also sounds interesting. Think of how many other things about succubae culture we could learn. I'm certain a lot has changed, and they may even know where I can find a new Zodiac Key. They are a whole different culture off in a largely unexplored part of the world."

"You make a valid point, but Zuri?"

"Yes?" 

"Why are you asking us to come with you? As opposed to, say, Wendy?"

"Bring WENDY? Are you _insane_? Succubae villages are _terrible_ for children. Jeez, Erza," Paizuri retorted.

"Question. Would you go if we refused?" Erza asked.

"Errrr... well... probably not..."

"And why is that?" Erza growled, glaring.

"Because of that whole soul-eating thing, there is a teeny-tiny chance that I might be horribly beaten on sight. You guys are the perfect bodyguards. Lucy's only interested in Erza, so she won't be tempted by succubae AND can keep Erza from being tempted. Erza's strong enough to beat anyone who might attack me! It's win-win! ...For me!"

"If they hate you so much, why do you even want to go back?" Lucy asked, "Especially since we all call you Zuri, anyways."

"If any succubus will have the answers about what really happens to my soul after committing the Great Taboo, it would be the Elder, and my paizuri is pretty much going to be the only interrogation method I can think of. Plus, they might let me in if I can convince them I'm only there to contend for my name."

"But you're not."

"And they don't need to know that! Now, when do we leave?"

"We'll leave tomorrow, you can go back to Wendy, now."

"Yay!"

_**-FAIRY TAIRU-**_

By the time Paizuri opened the door, Wendy was putting on her rain boots, a worried look on her face. Paizuri sighed and grabbed up the umbrella in the corner, then kneeled in front of Wendy and pulled the straps on the undone rain boot tight. She stood up, and lightly grabbed Wendy's hand.

"Looking for Charle?"

Wendy nodded, "She hasn't come back, yet, and it's been about twenty minutes... The storm's getting worse, too."

Paizuri nodded, without a word of protest or even a vague 'don't be silly'. The Sky Dragon Slayer and the succubus were out the door, down the hall, and out on the town in moments.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Charle had finally stopped flying and simply walked through the town amidst the rain after about fifteen minutes. She hadn't found Happy, but that wasn't too important just yet. Honestly, she mostly just wanted to clear her head. The rain helped, just a bit, to set her thoughts a bit straighter. The dull tone as every raindrop pattered against the ground soothed her mind, let her think clearly. Something was up with Happy. He wasn't normal, for what he was.

"Hey, Charle!" Happy shouted.

Charle whirled around to see her blue, male counterpart rushing towards her, with a large, beautiful, white flower.

"Since you told me you don't like fish the last time I gave you one, I figured you might like this!" Happy said, grinning, leaving out the part about Lucy being the one to tell him to pick a flower.

Charle stared at the flower, and accepted it, appreciatively. She then turned her gaze on Happy, who smiled at her, graciously.

"Do you like it?"

"...Why don't you remember?" Charle asked, curiously, with a bit of cold steel to her voice.

"Did I do something bad? Did you tell me you were allergic and I forgot?" Happy asked, panic creeping into his voice.

Charle slowly shook her head, "Why don't you remember why you're here? Where you're from?"

"Natsu just told me I came from an egg that he found in the forest... I've never heard about why I was here. One time, though, Makarov said that the meaning of life is, well, to give life meaning," Happy said, his hears flattened.

"To... give life meaning...?" Charle wondered aloud, before shaking herself and taking a threatening step towards Happy, her paws balled up into fists, "Then why have I known that my purpose should lead me to kill Wendy! WHY WAS I BORN KNOWING I WOULD BE THE DEATH OF THE GIRL WHO BEFRIENDED ME!" 

Happy shrunk back, his eyes wide in shock, "Wh-what? What does that mean?"

Charle rushed forward and shoved Happy, knocking him on his back, "Why do you have some empty solace? Why do you not know, living in total ignorance of your true calling? WHY!"

Happy lay on the cold, wet stone, looking up at Charle with fright in his eyes. Charle's body shook as she stared down at him, her eyes welling up with tears. They stayed like that for a minute, and Happy quickly began to cry, letting out choked gasps. He screwed up his eyes in pain, as Charle's low, quiet sobs pierced his mind more vividly than any painful thing he'd ever experienced.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Charle... I'm sorry... I'll do anything to help you! I promise!"

"YOU CAN'T HELP ME! YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT YOU COULD POSSIBLY DO TO HELP ME!" Charle screamed.

"...he's trying, Charle, but you're not letting him," Wendy said, quietly.

Charle whirled around to see Wendy and Zuri standing a few feet away. The succubus was fairly soaked, but Wendy was almost completely dry. Zuri held an umbrella over the younger girl, with no seeming concern for her own self. Charle heard Happy getting to his feet and activating Aera. She looked back to see him flying away, desperately. Charle clenched her fists in anger; at him for not knowing, at herself for being such an idiot.

"How much did you hear?" Charle asked, her throat unclenching, her voice steeled.

"Just you shouting that Happy couldn't help you, right after he promised to do anything he could to," Wendy said.

Charle looked up at the succubus, and read a look of deep concern and a bit of anger. Charle's insides twisted. Zuri was a succubus, perhaps she heard more? Her hearing was probably better than Wendy's...

"Come on over here, under the umbrella," Wendy said.

Charle gulped and nodded, obeying mechanically. She heard the faint whisper of "you better explain later" from Zuri, and her insides filled with lead. Happy wouldn't have questioned what she said, probably would've chalked it up to her ranting. Paizuri acted a bit loopy, sure, but she was far older than anyone Charle knew. Great. Just what she needed. As if the day couldn't get _any_ worse...

Wendy looked up from Charle, at a tap from Paizuri, and saw a figure in the rain. His face was mostly covered with what looked a bandana. He had various magical-looking instruments strapped to his back, and his whole body was cloaked in mysterious-looking clothing.

"Mystogan...?" Paizuri asked, finally, after he stopped walking, about four feet in front of them.

"A storm's coming... Gildartz noticed it, too. It's going to be big," Mystogan said, looking up for a moment, then back down to Wendy, "I need to get you away from here."

"What? Take her away?" Paizuri asked, her free hand absentmindedly clenching Wendy's shoulder.

"I have to stay here. I have to help my comrades!" Wendy shouted.

Wendy and Mystogan stared at one another, the girl's expression fierce.

"...I regret not finding you sooner," Mystogan said, "You're determined, I can see it."

He pulled away at what covered his face, and the familiar marking on his face, the blue, spiky hair, sent a pang of recognition through Charle and Wendy.

"Gérard?" Charle demanded.

Memories of walking with an older boy with that mark filled Wendy's mind. Memories of that man protecting her, guiding her, until he said something about Anima being too dangerous for to be around. The memory of him leaving her with Cait Shelter struck her again, and the tears flowed freely from Wendy, as she stared up at him. He looked back down at her, care in his eyes.

"I have wanted to see you... for so long..."

"Will you come with me? Leave this place, before the whole town is engorged?"

Wendy shook her head, "I... I can't..."

Mystogan nodded, reached in his pocket, and handed her a strange piece of armour. It was a sort of... white gauntlet. Wendy hesitantly slipped it on. He looked up at the sky and a shiver coursed through his body, before he looked back down at Wendy, panic evident in his face. Zuri and Charle tensed up, getting closer to Wendy.

"You'll need this, where we'll be going. Find Natsu and Gajeel, quickly. They'll be the most useful you could find."

Wendy stared at the white gauntlet, which seemed to shrink and enlarge and generally shift to better fit her arm. She looked over at Mystogan, bewilderment in her eyes.

"You'll need everything I can give you, for I have failed in my task... This Anima has become too big... My power is not enough to control it anymore. Magnolia will vanish in no time. It's been determined..."

Wendy started to step forward, both hands curling slowly into fists. Zuri, however, held her back.

"What about Fairy Tail! What about my friends!" Wendy demanded, after a moment.

Mystogan looked at them for a moment, "They will most likely die. But... you and your demon friend... could save them... Wendy, hold onto her."

Paizuri, while still holding the umbrella, ducked down, grabbed Wendy, and hefted her up, holding the girl tight against her body.

"Zuri, what are you..."

"Look, kiddo, I'm not usually the most trusting person, but I've heard of Mystogan and he's displayed knowledge of what's going on with concern for your well-being. I'm not letting go of you until this is over. Charle, get over here."

"You misunderstand me, Zuri. Wendy must protect you."

Zuri shrugs, "Whatever works. Wendy, let's go warn the others."

Mystogan shakes his head, half-collapsing, "That won't be possible... It's already upon us..."

"Mystogan!" Wendy shouted.

Everything, after that moment, became hell. A torrent of power plunged into the city of Magnolia, whirling about magnificently. No one was able to react in time. The magic swept them away, and their entire world was black.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

What could've been hours or minutes or years or seconds, Wendy realized the darkness in front of her eyes was warm. A moment later, she pulled herself up to see she was sitting on top of Zuri. Wendy's eyes widened and she leaped back with a shriek... into a rough surface, though Wendy felt surrounded by a cloud of dust. Zuri sat up, scratching the back of her head.

"Well, at least that wasn't weird. Oi, Wendy, you alright?" she asked.

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine," Wendy said, "...did anyone else make it?"

Charle flew up a moment later, her Aera magic activated, her eyes screwed up in pain. Zuri watched her carefully, keeping a hand steady, ready to blow the cat away if she tried to hurt Wendy.

"What happened?" Wendy asked.

"The King finally captured magic," Charle said, "Or, well, a large chunk of it... That thing in the sky? That was Anima... a magic-stealing technique employed by the King of Edoras. He used it to steal this whole town, which is now Lachryma in Edoras."

"King of Edoras...?" Wendy asked.

Two seconds later, Happy burst up from the dust cloud, looking confused and thoroughly freaked out, "GUYS GUYS WHAT JUST HAPPENED?"

"Edoras is... an alternate world. It's where Happy and I come from," Charle said, giving a glance to Happy.

"...I came from... an alternate world...? Then how come I don't remember?"

"That's what I wanted to know!" Charle shouted, failing to keep her temper in check, "Why you forgot your mission to find a Dragon Slayer and kill it, in the name of our Queen!"

Charle heard the sound of a raging fire coming to life. She whirled around to see Zuri, both of her hands on fire. Wendy stood, stone-still, staring at Charle, yet her attention clearly also on Zuri. In the back of her mind, Wendy wondered how Zuri was able to conjure so much fire, when she usually couldn't.

"I fucking _knew_ it, you bitch," Zuri hissed.

Charle flinched, before snapping, "I have had no intentions on following that order for a long time, now! I have wanted nothing more than to save Wendy! There is no way I could live with myself if I allowed her to die!"

Zuri let out a primal snarl, so feral and threatening that Wendy's knees nearly buckled right then. Charle fell back, under the dust cloud, before righting herself. Happy flew over in front of her, holding out his arms in defiance.

"Don't you dare hurt Charle!"

"Zuri... please," Wendy whispered.

The fire around Zuri's hands dispersed, and she let them fall by her side. She glared at Charle for a moment, before looking down at Wendy. The girl was shaking, probably crying. Zuri took a step back, feeling disgust rise in her for a moment, before everyone was distracted by a gout of flame erupting from the dust.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!" Natsu bellowed.

He got to his feet and rushed over towards the group, after a delighted cry from Happy alerted him to his friend's presence. He looked over at the shaking Wendy, the incredibly still Zuri, and the moping Charle. Only Happy looked... happy, and that was clearly just from seeing him. Natsu put the blue cat on his shoulder, before looking over at the others.

"What's up?" he asked.

"...nothing," Wendy said.

"Where are we? The last thing I remember was some weird cloud. Did we get sucked into the sky?" Natsu asked, looking around at all the dust clouds.

"No," Charle said, lowly, "What you're looking at is the ruins of Magnolia."

She quickly explained the situation and Natsu turned up towards the Anima.

"The hell you want my friends for, ya scary black hole bastard! I'll punch you until you give 'em back!" he shouted, shaking his fist at the sky.

"How can we get to that other world?" Wendy asked.

Charle looked at the others for a moment, then sighed, "Happy and I can fly you through the Anima. There's enough left... that we can make it." 

"Um... two cats, three people," Zuri said, "And fuck you if you think I'm sitting this out."

Happy grabbed Natsu, while Charle grabbed Wendy. The Dragon Slayer's each offered a hand to Paizuri.

"...I'm going to hate every minute of this ride, aren't I?" Zuri asked, quietly.

"Most likely," Natsu said.

The cats activated their Aera magic, full-blast, and rocketed upwards and upwards.

"We can make it through the remnants...!" Charle shouted, "We just have to push ourselves... FASTER!"

Happy screwed up his eyes in pain as he pressed for every bit of speed his Aera could produce. Faster than ever before, faster even than during the Eligor incident, where he had felt he was going to die, perhaps, with the horrifying strain. His mind felt like it was going to rip apart. Vaguely, somewhere in the distance, Charle was screaming like a dying woman. Happy couldn't break himself away from the task, yet, not when they were...

...THERE!

He felt the vague vestiges of the Anima, that strange pulse of magic that washed over him, and suddenly Charle slowed down to a crawl. Happy turned down his Aera magic to mere hover, and he opened his eyes. His whole body felt sore and half-mangled, but the sights around him immediately cheered him up. Strange, beautiful trees that looked as if they grew bubbles, odd birds of strange dimensions. So many wonderful colors, all of them blending together in a wholly natural and perfect way. Happy stared, mouth wide open in a grin, all fears forgotten. Charle felt the sweet relief of finding something she never knew she had. Wendy, Natsu, and Paizuri simply looked on, observing the breath-taking sights.

...A strange sound cut short the bizarre ringing of the Aera magic, and the group was almost entirely silent for a moment.

"...I hate every minute of this ride," Paizuri said.

They began to scream as gravity took over. It would be a full minute of exercise for their poor lungs before they finally crashed through the roof of some small house. Miraculously, none of them were seriously injured, _probably_ because the Dragon Slayers, primarily Natsu, took most of the fall.

"...If you ever decide you want to repeat that, I'll murder you myself. Fuck the taboos," Paizuri groaned as she sat up.

Charle looked around for a moment, before noticing that they were in a strange, small room with nothing but clothing inside it. She arched a brow.

"We'll need different outfits, to fit in with this world better," Charle said.

"I'll help Wendy get clothes!" Zuri declared, waving her hand, excitedly.

"...Fine, but you don't get to peek when I'm changing," Wendy said.

"Eh, fair enough."

A few minutes later, the lot were in different outfits. Charle wore a veil and a strange dress that mostly clung to her legs. Happy had on a helmet that obscured his entire face, with little else. Wendy wore robes that were rather right, revealing the zero aspects she had, being a _twelve year-old_, though the tassels on the sleeves and strange designs on the whole thing made Wendy chuckle to look at. She pulled the hood over her head and it dropped down, almost all the way over her eyes. Zuri, at first, decided that Edoras was probably so different that nudists were common. Natsu fell back after her decision and didn't recover until Wendy forced the succubus into wearing a sparkling, gown dress that she made fit her curves perfectly. The succubus resisted at first, until Wendy told her it made her look pretty.

Natsu sat up and looked around. He spotted Paizuri and nearly had a nosebleed from the memory of the event, before the sparkle of the dress distracted him. He blinked for a moment.

"Hah, you look like you're going to a wedding."

"Don't make me incapacitate you with pointy objects in your crotch, boy," Zuri hissed.

"Be nice, Natsu, she looks beautiful in it!"

Paizuri looked ready to faint with happiness and pride. Charle looked ready to barf.

"Well... we need to go out," Charle said, "Explore this world. So we can find your friends..."

Natsu clenched his fist, nodding, "Right."

They opened the door and found a sight that utterly weirded them out. A man, who looked too much like Gray to be anyone other than him, stood beside a woman just like Juvia. Gray wore too many clothes, though, layers and layers of it! What perversion was this? A perversion of a perversion!

"Juvia is going on a mission."

"Take me with you, Juvia!" Gray declared, hearts in his eyes.

"How many layers of clothing are you wearing, Gray?" Juvia asked, a smirk in her eyes, as she began to walk away.

"I... I have a weak blood condition!" Gray shouted, crumpling.

"Come find me when you wear a normal amount of clothing," Juvia called out over her shoulder.

"I LOVE YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!"

Natsu's eyes darted over to the side, utterly horrified by this sick place's version of Gray, to see... Elfman? Yes, he had the same face, the same scars, but he seemed weedier and smaller. A lot like he did when he was a teenager. Meekly, he stood next to Jet and Droy, who looked down on him, angrily.

"You need to get stronger, Elfman, yeesh!" Jet shouted.

"Yeah, you're much too weak, as you are now!" Droy added.

"Oh, look, Fairy Tail's strongest are berating Elfman again."

"Don't overdo it, guys..."

Elfman nodded, meekly, ashamed and broken-looking. All the words left Natsu, and he could do nothing but stare at the atrocity.

"What happened to him?" Paizuri asked, under her breath.

Natsu looked over and saw Reedus, though he didn't recognize him at first. The man was much too skinny, and was furthermore, angrily chewing out someone.

"Hey, Cana, want to get some booze with us?"

Natsu's eyes darted over to the source of the noise and immediately spotted Cana, wearing a proper dress. She smiled, daintily shaking her head.

"You know I really don't like alcohol," Cana said, smiling gracefully.

Natsu's heart could hardly take the shock by this point. Black was white! Up was down! The dimensions were shifting out of place! Natsu held his head in struggling to take in this utterly bizarre Fairy Tail, where Bisca and Alzack held each other rather than awkwardly making conversation, where Nab rushed around looking for work rather than lazing about, where Tono seemed normal and not at all weird.

"What did the King do to Fairy Tail?" Natsu asked.

"...this is a different Fairy Tail. An alternate one, with a totally different history... Don't you get it? These aren't the people we're looking for," Charle said.

"Hey!" a voice shouted, "What the hell are you doing here?"

The Earthland Fairy Tailers looked up to see Lucy in a strange, gothic outfit, revealing much of her body. She had a bit of her pinned up like Mirajane's. She looked angry and violent as she stared down at them, Jet and Droy right behind her.

"Wow, you're even sexier like this," Paizuri said, "I have _got_ to tell our Lucy about you. I bet Erza'll get a kick out of it, too. Hey, where's she at? Don't tell me she's dead and I just made this situation awkward..."

Edo-Lucy stared down at Paizuri, an eyebrow twitching, "Erza, you say? How's that she-devil of a witch?"

"Heck if I know, I'm not from around here," Paizuri said.

"Lucy...?" Natsu said, meekly.

Edo-Lucy's eyes darted towards Natsu and she grinned from ear to ear for a moment, before she seized Natsu in a tight hug.

"About time you got back from the mission, ya little twit!" she cried out.

Natsu didn't offer any resistance, just went with the flow, though he wished he hadn't, when Edo-Lucy smacked on the back of the head.

"What are you doing going around with her, huh?" Edo-Lucy snapped.

"Ummm..."

"DEATH PENALTY!" 

Edo-Lucy seized Natsu in a vicious noogie that left bruises on the Dragon Slayer's head. She cackled as she spun him away, letting him stumble around for a moment, while others laughed and regaled in the sudden infliction of the "legendary" move from the girl. Natsu came to a stop, his eyes rolling for a moment, and they locked onto a familiar sight, which he never expected to come across.

"L-Lisanna...?" Natsu asked, quietly.

"Lucy, be nice to Natsu! Jet and Droy, you two stop picking on Elfman!"

"Yes, Lisanna," all of them grumbled.

Natsu and Happy both lunged for Lisanna, shouting her name, and latched onto her, nearly crying as they declared how happy they were that she was alive, safe and sound, when the Dragon Slayer received a vicious kick to his head. He stumbled back and looked over at Edo-Lucy, rubbing his head.

"When did you behave like such a beast, huh?" Edo-Lucy snapped.

"Umm..."

Meanwhile, Paizuri sat at the bar, where Edo-Mirajane was serving drinks in nothing but a string bikini. The succubus chuckled to herself, recalling the talks she'd had with Earthland's Mirajane.

"So, I take it you came to terms with your exhibitionism?" Paizuri asked.

"...Huh? Umm... well, yeah, I did, a long time ago. Why? Do I know you?" Edo-Mirajane asked, eyeing the succubus suspiciously.

"Eh? Me? Nah, probably not. I hope not. Edo-Me is probably a crazy, hyper-religious, virginal something or other. Or a cold-blooded, soul-sucking bitch. Neither option sounds nice, though the second sounds a little better. At least Edo-Me would've been quickly put down before carrying on a sex-void life for too long."

Edo-Mirajane slowly stepped away, nodding, giving a phony smile. Paizuri grinned for a moment, then turned to the side and gasped.

"...Wendy?" she asked.

Edo-Wendy turned towards her, arching a brow. As opposed to the Earthland Wendy, she was older, with a more mature air about her. The childish gleam in her was gone, the lovable curiosity replaced with wisdom. She wore a somewhat revealing black dress and seemed to smirk at everything around her.

"You are?" Edo-Wendy asked.

"I'm Paizuri."

"...I thought I killed you."

"Aw, shit, now everything's going to get awkward and I'm going to get beaten up. I specifically requested Erza and Lucy as bodyguards for the sole purpose of avoiding that fate..."

"...what on Edoras are you talking about?" Edo-Wendy demanded.

"Please don't hurt me!" Paizuri shouted, covering up her head with her hands.

Wendy rushed over, her fists up, glaring at Edo-Wendy.

"Don't you dare hurt Zuri! She's my friend!"

"...Did you know your friend here was employed by the Fairy Hunters, and was, in fact, the one who killed our master?" Edo-Wendy demanded, seething.

"Wait, I can explain!" Natsu shouted, "I'm not from this world!"

Everyone stared at him. Edo-Lucy punched him, immediately.

"Don't go off saying stupid crap like that!" she snapped.

"It's true!" Natsu replied, getting to his feet and staring Edo-Lucy down, fiercely, to her complete and utter shock.

"Woah, Nat, when'd you get to be so tough out of a vehicle?" Jet asked, quirking a brow.

"I've... what? I hate vehicles!"

"It's true, they make him sick!" Wendy shouted, still glaring at Edo-Wendy.

"You're not making any sense," Mirajane said.

"This WORLD doesn't make any sense! I'm used to going around punching things, blowing fire at stuff, Gray being a pervert, Luvia pining over Gray, Mirajane _wearing clothes_, Lisanna being-," Natsu ranted for a moment, before he caught himself.

"Something's happened to Natsu's mind," Edo-Lucy said, fright dancing in her eyes.

"I'm personally used to you and Erza doing X-Rated things when you think I can't hear you," Paizuri added.

"Zuri...! That was a dramatic moment," Wendy chided.

"Also, you're disgusting," Charle said.

"Back to normal, already?" Paizuri asked.

Edo-Lucy whirled around, looking at Paizuri, fury boiling, "YOU'RE THE ONE WHO DID THIS, AREN'T YOU! YOU EVEN WEAR HER FACE! WHAT ARE YOU, DEMON! ANOTHER SUCCUBUS, WHO SEDUCED NATSU AND THEN MADE HIM LOSE HIS MIND!"

"...I guess getting beat up will be karma for stealing everyone's bras at the beach."

Wendy stood in front of Paizuri as everyone started advancing on her. Paizuri looked down at Wendy for a moment, then shook her head.

"No, no, no, Wendy, you're not taking this for me," Paizuri said.

"I won't let them hurt you!" 

"Who made the taunting comments, all while not really approaching the situation with tact? I think that's me."

Paizuri walked up to Edo-Lucy, slowly and calmly. She stood before the twisted version of her friend, waiting.

"You aren't gonna fight, you piece of trash?" Edo-Lucy hissed.

Paizuri shook her head, "I don't have any qualms with you. My world's Fairy Tail saved my life, took me in, and kept me."

The succubus lowered the top of her dress a bit, and Edo-Lucy caught a glimpse of a familiar mark, right at the top of Zuri's chest, where it wasn't _quite_ indecent. Edo-Lucy stared at her, before her hand flashed out, and Zuri fell to the floor. The seventeen year old stared down at the succubus, tears in her eyes.

"How... dare you!" she shouted, "How did you get that?" 

Paizuri chuckled, "I went through hell for this mark. I did a lot of bad things, forced by that damn psycho-bitch Venny. I killed her for what she did to me, but mostly for what she was going to do to Wendy. I fought for her sake, and eventually got to know the others, until I became such good friends with them... that I would give my life if it meant Fairy Tail would have an extra moment of laughter."

Edo-Lucy glared down at her, slowly pulling out something that looked like a hilt. She growled, and Paizuri merely smiled back at her.

"If dying means you will be happy, so be it," Paizuri said, closing her eyes, "Even if I would've liked to know what will happen to me in the afterlife."

Edo-Lucy brought up the hilt for a moment, before her hand fell to her side, "Who are you?"

Paizuri chuckled, shaking her head, when all hell once again broke loose. A member of Fairy Tail rushed in, with a cry that sent an incredible rush of fear through every Edoras citizen's veins.

"FAIRY HUNTER!"

Everyone rushed around so quickly that the Earthland citizens were immediately lost in the shuffle. Edo-Levy sat in some chair with odd things about her, while Edo-Lucy worriedly rushed around, trying to re-attain order. She finally lost patience and turned back towards Edo-Levy.

"DAMMIT, LEVY, HURRY UP WITH THAT TRANSPORTATION!"

"DAMMIT, LUCY, I'M DOING AS BEST AS I CAN!" 

"What the hell's going on?" Natsu asked.

"What's Fairy Hunter?" Wendy asked.

"The King of Edoras wants all the magic to himself," Charle said.

"So he banned all mage guilds so that no one could use magic," Edo-Lucy said, "So... we're effectively a dark guild, now..."

Natsu, Wendy, and Happy gasped.

"Fairy Tail...," Natsu muttered.

"A dark guild...?" Happy finished.

"That's not fair!" Wendy shouted.

A moment later, the world around them shifted, changed, and the Fairy Tail guild was gone.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

"Damn, we almost had them."

The incredible monster, Legion, scraped its claws on the spot where the guild house had just been, furious. The dark beast crooned in mourning of the lost meal.

"Don't worry, Sugarboy, we'll get them..."

"I expect Faust will be angry if we don't turn these damn Fairy Tailers over to him, soon."

"Faust can wait a little longer. He should be happy, having finally pulled in such a good haul from the Anima."

"Those are treacherous words, Erza Knightwalker." 

Sugarboy found the Ten Commandments pointed at his neck, and he grinned.

"No, Sugarboy, it is merely a statement of fact. Do not accuse me of things I have not and will not carry out. I am a harbinger of the law."

Sugarboy chuckled, as Knightwalker put away the Ten Commandments, "Fair enough, fair enough, Fairy Hunter. You'll get them, in time."

"They can't keep running forever... they'll run out of teleport magic," Knightwalker muttered, "And then we'll have them."

**End of Chapter One**


	2. Significantly Altered Second

**Chapter Two: The Significantly Altered Second**

**And so the crackfic continues. Just remember, this isn't even a simple retelling with some slight alterations. I only keep the fun parts, and typically alter some of those. 8DDDD And I promise to get some Erza/Lucy in the fic, in time. Just, ya know, Erza's Lachryma'd for now. **

**Also... this chapter's word count? It's... OVER NINE-! 8DDDD**

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Lucy looked around, concerned. Something had been wrong in the very air itself. Horologium instinctively summoned itself to come to her aid, and just in time: some bizarre force was absorbing her, almost trying to swallow her. The clock formed around her, babbling across their telepathic connection about some strange magic in another world. She wasn't clear on the details, before suddenly Horologium was gone, and she was outside of a large city. Two guards stood posted about a hundred feet away from her. Curious, she approached them. Before she could ask them anything, they pointed their spears at her.

"I'm Lucy Heartphilia," she said.

"What kinda stupid last name is that! You can't fool us, Lucy Ashley!" one of the guards snapped.

"You're a part of Fairy Tail!"

"Yeah, of course I am," Lucy said, defensively, putting a hand on her hip, "Problem with that?"

The guards jabbed at her with the spears, but missed, due to Lucy ducking, then jumping back. She held up a Key, a determined look on her face.

"Gate of the Lion! Loke!" Lucy shouted.

Lucy was surprised when, instead of Loke appearing to defeat the guards, her fist began to glow. She looked down at her hand to see not only the glow, but a ring of the same general design as the Key. The guards charged at her, and Lucy did the first thing that came to mind, given the situation. Lucy blinked, noting a pair of sunglasses that had appeared on her face. She got into the best fighting stance she could muster, which wasn't particularly good, balled up her right, glowing hand and slugged one of the guards right in the face. There was an explosion of light and the guard flew back with a cry of pain. The other one paused for a moment, just long enough for her to sideswipe him, then run.

She made her way away from the city for a full thirty minutes before a horrifyingly loud sound blared nearby, and a familiar face appeared in the driver's seat.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

When things had calmed down, the Fairy Tail members found themselves under interrogation. Paizuri calmly sat in a chair, as instructed, and Edo-Wendy strapped her arms to the chair with two seperate chains.

"Wow, never imagined this would happen," Paizuri muttered, "...my imagination is really uninteresting when it comes to you. Though, upon seeing what you look like grown up, my brain's going crazy. It's kind of disturbing."

Edo-Wendy ignored the comment and backed away as Edo-Lucy stepped forward. Natsu growled in warning, and Wendy started to protest, before Paizuri looked over at them.

"Don't worry," Paizuri said, chuckling for a moment, "I'll be fine." 

"You keep making comments about Wendy," Edo-Lucy noted, taking out the whip, though it remained inactive, "Any reason?"

Paizuri nodded her head towards Wendy, "That's cuz _she_ is our world's Wendy, and umm... I have a thing for her? So, yeah, seeing your Wendy looking grown up kinda set me off. Being chained down doesn't help."

Charle groaned, "She's going to get us all killed."

"This pisses me off," Natsu growled, "She's our friend!"

"Your world's Wendy...?" Edo-Lucy asked.

Edo-Wendy looked towards Wendy for a moment, then approached her cautiously. She blinked, surprised, ignoring Natsu, who seemed ready to begin punching her if she did anything.

"I... I hadn't looked at you, clearly," Edo-Wendy said, kneeling in front of the young Sky Sorceror, "You really are me... How is this possible?"

Wendy stared at Edo-Wendy for a moment, "...Am I really going to look like you after puberty?" 

"I sure hope so," Paizuri muttered.

"I'm going to belt you if you keep that up," Edo-Lucy snapped.

"What, I can't express my opinions?"

"Without getting us killed, you can't," Charle snapped.

Paizuri shrugged. Natsu glared at Edo-Wendy, who continued to ignore him in favor of her younger self. The elder tapped her chin thoughtfully.

"Sisters don't look this much alike... I never had a kid... Cloning is right out...," Edo-Wendy muttered, "So why do you look so much like a 12 year old me?" 

"Why do _you_ look like a... like a... sixteen year old me?" Wendy asked.

"I'm seventeen, in case you didn't notice," Edo-Wendy said, crossing her arms to emphasize her chest, giving a glare.

"Dammit, you're still jailbait?" Paizuri groaned.

"...Why are you perverted, too?" Wendy asked.

"She is seventeen," Paizuri noted, "That's pretty much the sex-crazy age. Look at Lucy, for example."

"I am _not_ sex crazy," Edo-Lucy snapped.

"Your aura says different, but okay. I was talking about our Lucy, anyways."

"Aura?"

"It tells me all your dirty sex secrets."

"...You're lying." 

"Your favorite fantasy is straddling with your skirt on, while the girl or guy beneath you has no shirt on but something around their head."

"Zuri!" Wendy shouted, covering her ears.

"Oh, right, sorry, do you want me to continue on? Wendy, cover your ears and hum."

Wendy walked further away, humming tunelessly. Edo-Lucy stared in utter shock and horror.

"There is your fascination with whips, having your hands tied," Paizuri said, "Though you seem to at least be a bit more open with yourself about exhibitionism instead of just flaunting it for any guy to get what you want. You like being controlled more than our Lucy, who went for Erza pretty much immediately."

"Shut up, st-stop saying those kinds of things!" Edo-Lucy shouted.

"Wow, Lu, you're a sex fiend," Jet said.

Paizuri turned towards him, a gleam in her eye, "Everyone's got something that turns them on, mister fantasizes about a three-way with your team members." 

The color drained from Jet's face. Droy blinked and took a step away. Natsu stared at Zuri, utter shock on his face at her insistence on spouting off unwanted sexual information about his friends.

"...well, he never intended to _touch_ you, Droy."

"That makes me marginally less uncomfortable." 

"Please stop talking," Edo-Wendy said.

Paizuri looked at her, smirking, "Well..."

Wendy noticed where Paizuri's attention had been drawn and cried out, "NO!"

Paizuri looked at Wendy, whose hands her on her hips, a fierce expression in her eyes, "You do not get to spout off other me's fetishes! Never ever! That's just wrong!"

"...I was kinda curious," Edo-Lucy muttered.

"How could you be curious about that sort of thing?" Natsu demanded.

"Insert bi-curious joke here," Paizuri replied.

"Geh... that's IT!" Edo-Lucy shouted, "You're a demon sent here to cause chaos so that Knightwalker can find us easier! I'll kill you!"

Everyone was interrupted by the sound of a vehicle coming to a screeching halt, with the panicked screams of a young woman mixed in. Edo-Lucy looked to the door for a moment, curious, and was stunned to see her Earthland counterpart walk in, her hair frazzled, panic in her eyes. Lucy looked around, took in the sights of the twisted version of Fairy Tail, and looked ready to faint.

"What the hell's going on?" Lucy shrieked, "First, Natsu can actually drive, and now... you guys are all... WHAT THE HELL?"

"That was pretty much our reaction," Natsu said.

Lucy looked over at the Fire Dragon Slayer, and halfway raised her hand, questioningly, before just staring, "T-two Natsu's?"

"More than just two Natsu's," Edo-Lucy said.

A moment later, Edoras' Natsu walked in, looking around with a bit of concern. His goggles were resting on the top of his head, and his hands were in his pockets. Meanwhile, Lucy and Edo-Lucy stared at each other, completely caught offguard.

"Believe us, now?" Wendy asked.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

"Can I have my hands free?" Zuri asked.

"Are you going to apologize for almost spouting off her fetishes?" Wendy asked.

"I'm sorry I know too much about what you like in bed and promise not to say anything about them intentionally," Zuri said, a tone of defeat in her voice.

"How do you control her?" Edo-Wendy asked.

"...Well, she kinda removed a curse from me. Also, she's adorable."

Wendy stuck her tongue out at Zuri for a moment, then turned to Edo-Wendy. Charle stood on Wendy's shoulder, scrutinizing the older girl.

"What kinda cat is that?" Edo-Wendy asked.

"Ummm... her name is Charle. She's nice, _isn't she_?"

Charle nodded rapidly in agreement, and Paizuri held back the twenty snide comments that came to mind. Edo-Wendy quirked a brow.

"Almost wish I was still a kid, if it meant I could have a sentient cat and succubus under my control."

"You can still have that last one," Paizuri said, winking, "Doubly so if you free my hands."

Edo-Wendy blushed, before reaching down and unlocking both of the chains, which fell to the floor. Zuri stood up, rubbing her wrists for a moment, grinning at Edo-Wendy.

"Zuri!" Wendy shouted, "Stop being icky around older me!"

"I can't help it. She looks just like you, only less like jailbait."

"Hmph."

"Don't be like that, Wendy," Zuri said, kneeling beside the younger girl.

"Disgusting," Charle muttered.

"When sex-starved can be a cause of death for you, you can talk bad about me," Zuri replied, under her breath, "Until then, can it."

"Be nice," Wendy hissed.

"...This is probably the weirdest day of my life," Edo-Wendy said.

"Wanna make it umm... weirder? Look, it's hard to be seductive in replying to a phrase like that, gimme a break." 

"Zuri!" 

"Sorry, reflex."

Edo-Wendy arched a brow, looking at Zuri, "You're the source of the weirdness." 

"And the hotness. Let's face it: I make everyone's day sexier."

"I'm leaving," Wendy said, "This conversation's going into bad places, and it's not going to stop anytime, soon." 

Zuri kissed Wendy on the forehead, "Later, little one."

Wendy and Charle hurriedly walked away. Edo-Wendy stared off after them, for a moment, before turning back to Paizuri.

"She's a sweet kid. Uninterested in the darker side of life," Paizuri said, "She's wonderful, really. Puts up with me, doesn't expect sex from me. Nothing I expected."

"That's umm... well, it might be romantic, if she weren't both an alternate me and twelve years old."

"The difference between you and her is size. Five years is nothing to me," Zuri said, with a shrug.

"How old are you?" Edo-Wendy asked.

"About 457," Paizuri said.

"...Well, from your perspective, I suppose the difference is miniscule. It's still wrong."

"Yeah, everyone tells me that."

Edo-Wendy and Paizuri stared at each other for a few moments, awkwardly.

"...I'd appreciate it if you changed how your face appeared. That's what our world's Paizuri chose to look like."

Paizuri shrugged, then altered the cheekbones a bit, making them higher, then lightened her skin tone to a more marble-esque color. She blinked, and her eyes shifted to a dark, dark blue.

"This better?"

"Much. Thank you. Your previous face..." 

"Yeah, brings up bad memories."

"I'm glad you understand and were willing to... it's a rather odd request." 

"You've got Wendy's face. I'm not about to tell you no." 

"That intrigues and disturbs me."

"You don't know how hard my mind is fighting about whether or not to go for incredibly intriguing."

"You disturb me, more than a little bit."

"Yeah, that's gonna be a tough obstacle to overcome," Paizuri said, nodding sagely, "I shall devote the rest of my time here to this incredible task."

Edo-Wendy sighed, face-palming.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Meanwhile, the two Lucy's looked each other up and down, a bit creeped out by the perfect similarities amidst the outlandish differences. They stood beside the bar, which Edo-Mirajane busily cleaned.

"So, you're me from Earthland," Edo-Lucy said.

"Yeah. You're the... Edoras me." 

Edo-Lucy nodded, "What's with the clothes? You're not proud of your body?" 

"Excuse me? You're dressing like a skank!"

"Skank? Pardon me for enjoying the way I look!"

"There's a difference between enjoying your body and putting it on display!"

Edo-Mirajane coughed, loudly, and the two looked towards her. Lucy paled a bit, while Edo-Lucy snickered.

"You're right about that. You put your body on display if you expect to get paid. Or if you mean to use your body to get your way," Mirajane said.

Lucy chuckled nervously, and Edo-Lucy growled, narrowing her eyes.

"You've done that, haven't you! AND YOU CALLED ME A SKANK!"

"That's because of your outfit!"

"At least I never tried to show off my tits to get something for cheap!"

"Don't judge me, I was broke!" Lucy shouted, defensively, recalling a time long ago, when she bought the Key for Plue.

"HAVE YOU NO SHAME!" Edo-Lucy screeched.

"WHAT ABOUT YOU!" Lucy shouted back.

Edo-Mirajane hopped up and down for a moment, waving her hands, calling for their attention again.

"Girls, girls, calm down. Why don't you get on a subject you can both talk about?"

"...how about we talk about you not moving that much?" Lucy said, quietly.

Edo-Lucy looked at Edo-Mirajane, who shrugged before turning around to get back to work. Edo-Lucy snickered.

"You're skittish or something?" 

"...I'm dating Erza. Seeing scantily-clad women that aren't her bothers me."

A look of anger passed over Edo-Lucy's face, and Lucy took a step back, a bit scared. The Edo-Lucy tensed up her entire body, angrily clenching both of her hands into fists.

"What is Erza, in your world?" Edo-Lucy asked, through gritted teeth.

"She's... Titania, the Fairy Queen, one of the strongest members of Fairy Tail. She's brave and strong and... wonderful," Lucy said, before looking around, "What about your Erza? Where is she?"

"She's probably flying back to Central, having reported that she failed her misson to kill us."

"Huh-WHA?"

Edo-Lucy crossed her arms, shrugging, "She's Knightwalker, the Fairy Hunter. Brave and strong, maybe. Wonderful? I'd describe her as terrible, personally."

Lucy sat down, shaking a bit, "Oh my... I have to find my Erza and make sure she's safe... Oh, boy..."

"Heh, have fun with that. She's probably part of the Lachryma, right now," Edo-Lucy said, "And charging for her release would be suicide." 

"I... I can't abandon Erza," Lucy said.

"Hell if I know what you can do," Edo-Lucy snapped.

Lucy slumped in her seat, feeling despair welling up inside her. No one here would help them? They were Fairy Tail, though... Maybe that was it, though. Maybe there was an Edo-Phantom Lord that was all for rescuing comrades. Lucy shuddered at the thought, then wondered where an Edo-Gajeel was. Given the problems with Erza, she didn't feel like asking.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Natsu Dragion and Natsu Dragneel sat down on the farthest end of the bar, staring at each other with curiosity. Happy sat, busily eating a small fish through the lifted slat in his helmet, occasionally eyeing Edo-Natsu with the look of someone confused, disturbed, but also incredibly amused.

"So, you're me?" Natsu Dragneel asked.

"Well, kinda," Natsu Dragion said.

"...So, why is it you can stand vehicles?"

"I've never had a bad experience with them? I dunno, it was what I was taught," Edo-Natsu said, shrugging.

"That's really weird," Natsu murmured, scratching his chin.

"Why?" Edo-Natsu asked, crossing his arms and arching an eyebrow.

"He hates vehicles. They make him sick, unless Wendy casts Troia on him," Charle answered, grinning behind the helmet.

"Casts?" Edo-Natsu asked, "Is that, uh, Earthland for 'give'?"

"Huh? Gi- technically, I guess, but it's the word for using magic, in our world. Why?"

"Oh, so you have Magic, too?" Edo-Natsu asked.

"Eh? Of course we do," Natsu replied, grinning, holding up his hand, "Like this!"

Edo-Natsu and Happy watched as he clenched his hand for several moments. Natsu began to growl in frustraton as he continually clenched his hand, trying to form his usual dragon's fire.

"What are you doing?" Edo-Natsu asked.

"He's trying to use magic," Happy answered, concern in his eyes.

"How? Does he expect to just up and conjure something from thin air?" 

"Yeah, dumbass, what the hell is magic but doing that kinda stuff?" Natsu remarked, gritting his teeth as he began slamming his fists together.

"Well, for starters, you don't have a Magic of any sort," Edo-Natsu said, shaking his head.

"Have a...?" Natsu started.

"Magic...?"

"Yeah, a Magic is an item. Like the vehicle I drive. Then there's other stuff, like the Ten Commandments, which Knightwalker has. It's a spear with many forms," Edo-Natsu said, cowering at the thought.

"...items are Magic?" Natsu asked, "As in, that's the only way to _use_ magic?"

"Yep."

"So lame. Any chance I can get hold of one of these... Magic items?"

"Well, Lucy knows a place in town. She could probably pick something up for you."

"Hey, Natsu and Natsu, I got us drinks!" Edo-Gray announced, sitting down beside Earthland-Natsu, grinning.

Edo-Gray threw an arm around Natsu and man-hugged him, tight, laughing. Natsu stared, blankly, against the wall, as Edo-Gray laughed, slamming the drinks down in front of them. Edo-Natsu chuckled, grabbing up the drink.

"What's up, man? Pulled Juvia to your way of thinking, yet?" Edo-Natsu asked, with a grin.

"She still ignores me. Tells me to, ya know, ditch some of my clothes, " Edo-Gray mumbled, before looking at Natsu, "What's Earthland Juvia like? And Earthland me?"

Natsu pushed away Edo-Gray's arm, "For one, Gray and I beat each other _regularly_, so don't touch me. For two, our Gray is a pervert who keeps stripping away all his clothes because he uses ice magic. For three, Juvia was a lovesick puppy who hounded Gray. They're dating, now. Started after he got turned into a girl." 

"You and Gray beat each other up?"

"...Juvia's a lesbian?" Edo-Gray asked, horror in his voice.

Happy grinned over at Natsu, who face-palmed, realizing he was in for a long chat.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Lucy looked over toward Edo-Lucy, "So, uhh... what _do_ we share in common, aside from looks and first name? Do you write? Have anything to do with Celestial Spirits?"

Her counterpart stared at her for a moment, before breaking out into a fit of laugher.

"Write? Me?" Edo-Lucy asked, cracking up, "And what on earth are Celestial Spirits?"

Lucy picked up one of her Keys and held it up, "This is what I use for magic."

"...Keys? You don't have a weapon of any sort?" Edo-Lucy asked, quirking a brow.

"Well, I do have a whip, but my Spirits are my main source of power," Lucy replied.

"Oh, you have a whip, too!" Edo-Lucy asked, a gleam in her eyes, holding up the hilt to a whip, sans the actual whip, "I've got one!"

"That's a... whip?" Lucy asked, "It's just a stick." 

"...And those are just keys, what's your point?" Edo-Lucy asked.

"Well, these bring forth spirits. Beings of power."

"And this brings forth a long tendril of pain. Wanna see, firsthand?"

Lucy growled, before Edo-Mirajane clanged two glasses together, "Do not make me break you two up, because you two will not like what happens after."

"Yes, Mira," Edo-Lucy said, turning away.

"...what happens after?" Lucy asked, frightened.

"You have to wash the room... wearing an outfit like hers," Edo-Lucy said, "As proud as I am of my body... I'm not quite close enough to enjoying having to display half my butt to the guild while cleaning the wall."

Lucy froze and looked at Edo-Mirajane, who merely gave her the slightest of evil grins, before turning back to her work.

"...she scares me."

"She scares everyone," Edo-Lucy muttered, "On her _bad_ days, she's known as Satan."

"These Keys really do bring forth spirits... back home, anyways. They... do something different here."

Edo-Lucy held up the hilt, which briefly produced the barest flicker of an energy whip, before going back out. Lucy chuckled, then held up the first Golden Key she picked up.

"Open the Gate of the Bull, Taurus," Lucy said, commandingly but quietly, as opposed to her usual battlecries.

A moment later, Edo-Lucy stared in confusion as her counterpart manifested horns and an ax as big as her. Lucy seemed comfortable holding it as she did, which seemed to confuse her the most.

"...What's different about me?" Lucy asked.

"Horns. You've got to be a lot stronger than you look, with that ax."

"Oh, you're probably right. I doubt the ax reduced _itself_, after all... Hm. Well, first I get Loke's glasses, now Taurus' horns. Okay, so I definitely get an attribute from them, in _addition_ to their power. That's neat," Lucy said.

"Lucy, could you get this jar for me?" Mirajane asked, putting it down on the counter, "With strength to hold that axe, I figure you could do it faster than me."

Lucy shrugged and popped the jar for her with the barest of strains. She leaned forward to hand the jar over and found herself entranced. Edo-Mirajane suddenly grinned.

"I'd like the jar back, if you would. You can openly stare at my breasts afterwards, though. You really are a lesbian, huh?"

Lucy jerked back, wondering in the back of her mind why she was suddenly so unable to her eyes away from Mirajane's (admittedly quite exposed) assets. A moment later, Lucy recalled every instance she ever called forth Taurus, and it became quite clear. With a sigh, she dropped the axe, which became the key once more. Her horns disappeared, as did the massive obsession with the female anatomy.

_'A big weapon and obsession with boobs. Was I just like Erza, then?'_

Lucy chuckled for a moment, as she picked the key back up. She blinked, realizing the problem.

"No one uses magic that comes from within themselves, do they?" Lucy asked.

Edo-Lucy looked at for a moment, then cracked up laughing.

"Well, there are legends, but no one I've ever heard of has been able to use magic from within themselves," Edo-Mirajane said, "Just to clarify what her laughter means."

"Ah. Gotcha. Well, see, I have my Keys, but Natsu, Zuri, and Wendy... don't have any form of external magic objects. Any way we could get our hands on one?" 

"Magic is hard to procure and easy to waste, if you're not careful. We've got some things they can practice with, in the meantime, however."

"Okay, good. Also, I'm Erza-sexual. There's a difference."

Mirajane laughed, while Edo-Lucy just stared, shaking her head.

"How are you me?" she asked, quietly.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

The people in town, ignorant of the Dark Guild's continued existence, barely aware of anything other than their own joys, gathered in the streets. Grand spectacles were being made out and about. Trumpets sounding, people screaming in unison the name of their beloved king, "FAUST FAUST FAUST", and the loud sound of the immense Lachryma recently attained as the king's entourage dragged it on a platform through the streets. More people joined the crowd, and Faust continued pumping them up, simply standing beside the over-large Lachryma, excitedly pointing to it, before finally he tapped precisely three times on the platform. The soldiers reacted immediately, stopping in their tracks. The platform stopped, Faust stopped, and the crowd became utterly silent.

"You see this lachryma? This mammoth of a gem, in all its might, is just a piece of a mightier gem. The gem I'm slowly bringing in can last us for a full ten years!"

The crowd cheered, before Faust whirled around and smacked the lachryma with his staff, sending a chunk of it flying through the air. The cheers toned down, slowly, watching with curiosity.

"AND I WILL MAKE EVEN THIS LOOK LIKE TRASH!" Faust roared, "I WILL ATTAIN, FOR OUR WORLD... MAGIC! ETERNAL!"

The people cheered again, and all sense of self was lost in the teeming mass of the blind following the blind.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Gajeel groused as he sat up. He had been sleeping, Death Metal curled up at the foot of his bed. He woke up just a few minutes ago, to find that the entire town had been destroyed. Where was Death Metal? Where was the guild? None of this made any sense. A moment later, something equally nonsensical appeared. A man with his face covered and cloaked appeared before him. The Iron Dragon Slayer immediately recognized him as Mystogan.

"Hey, you do this?" Gajeel asked, glaring.

"No. I did not do this, but I am a part of this. I can help you, though you may not like who you get help from."

"The hell are you talking about?"

"Allow me to show you where I come from."

_**-FAIRY TAIRU-**_

Paizuri, Wendy, Charle, Edo-Wendy, Natsu, Happy, and Lucy all followed Edo-Lucy as she opened a door then began descending down the stairs that followed.

"So, where are we going?" Wendy asked.

"To the basement," Edo-Lucy said, "It's where we keep weapons."

"Aw, sweet, are those the ones we'll use to kick the crap out of those damn royals locking up our friends!" Natsu shouted in excitement.

"...They're starter weapons."

"Awwww, I can totally handle Magic, though!" Natsu whined.

"You'd probably go overboard with it," Lucy said, shaking her head.

"What's that supposed to mean!"

"It means you'd better pick someone durable for your first time," Paizuri whispered, right behind Natsu.

The Fire Dragon Slayer froze for a moment, his entire face red. Charle grumbled in disgust, and Wendy elbowed Zuri, lightly. The succubus just chuckled and kept following the others. Wendy looked down at the white gauntlet Mystogan had given her, and understood its purpose. She wondered what it did, though...

They stopped when they reached level ground, and the Edoras women dug around in the nearby chest, before pulling out a few hilts of equal size but in various degrees of overuse. They handed one to Natsu and Paizuri. Lucy insisted she had her Keys, and Wendy held up her white gauntlet.

"Do you know what this might do?" she asked.

"...Eh, that looks likes a self-booster," Edo-Wendy said, "It's much sleeker and more advanced than the ones I typically use, though... Where'd you get it?" 

"Someone gave it to me before we left," Wendy said.

"You know anyone with a blue tattoo and blue hair? Kinda intense looking?" Zuri asked, "You may have met him."

"...sounds like Faust's kid," Edo-Lucy muttered, before shaking her head, "But he's been gone for years. Anyways, Earthland-Wendy, you can ask Edoras-Wendy about the gauntlet. I'll teach them about the swords."

"Okay!" Wendy said, happily, walking away with Charle and Edo-Wendy.

"Alright, so, grip the hilt firmly," Edo-Lucy said, "And focus on it. There should be an ignition switch. You gotta be careful, though, cuz-"

She was interrupted by the sudden blaze of energy from Natsu's sword, which nearly blinded everyone in the room, and a much larger blade than normal emerged from the hilt, stabbing into the far wall, narrowly missing Edo-Wendy's head. Frantically, he dropped the blade, and it immediately cut off, before pointing at Zuri.

"Hey, get that finger out of my face. Not that hungry, yet," Paizuri said, rolling her eyes.

"Okay, now then, you have to grip it loosely at first, then _gently_ push the switch until it's a decent-sized sword. Trust me, you'll want it to be around three feet. Good medium between reach and balance," Edo-Lucy said.

Natsu picked up the sword and prepared to try again.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Happy and Charle sat alone on a table in one of the corners, well away from everyone else. They mostly tried to avoid looking at one another, barely making conversation. Finally, Happy cut through the awkward silence.

"What do we do?" Happy asked, "About the others...?"

"Wendy is my number one priority. I will follow her," Charle said, simply, though quietly.

"But what about the others?" Happy asked, "Like Jet, Droy, and Levi! Master Makarov!"

"...I will protect Wendy," Charle said, fiercely, "If she so chooses to free your friends, then I will help. But I know _nothing_ about the castle. Do you expect me to have some psychic vision and know everything?"

Happy twinged, looking down, "It's... it's just cuz... ya' know, you're smart... I figured you'd be helpful. I thought you would have a plan, maybe... You know more about this place than I do. I'm sorry. I was being stupid. Like when I tried to give you fish."

Charle stared at him, her eyes wide, before she turned away, "It's... more than that, Happy."

"Then what is it?" Happy asked, quietly.

There was a long paused, before Happy heard a slow, shuddering breath from Charle, and realized she was probably crying again.

"I'm scared," Charle muttered, "So very, very scared. About Wendy. About this place. About who I am supposed to be."

"Fairy Tail always finds a way. So don't worry. No matter the problem, they've always come out on top. They've always come through, no matter who it was for. I'm not going to let them die, Charle, and you should care about them, too."

Charle pulled her legs in close and she whimpered, before muttering, "I have to protect Wendy."

"And I have to protect Natsu, but I know we have to save the others. So I want to help, soon," Happy said.

Charle gently nodded, and Happy looked around, hoping no one heard their discussion. He saw Edo-Lucy stand on top of a bar stool, then on top of the bar.

"Alright, it's curfew, get in your rooms. Jet, Droy, Levi, you three are taking first watch. Nab, Reedus, Cana, you're taking second watch. Earthland Fairy Tail, you're going to have some sleeping assignments," Edo-Lucy said.

"Sleeping assignments?" Zuri asked, "...Nah, I'll leave that joke in the air." 

"Zuri, you're going to be sleeping with our Wendy-" 

"YES!"

"And your Wendy. And her cat." 

"WHAT! NO!" Zuri shouted.

"...Do you have a problem?" Edo-Lucy asked.

"_Yes_, a very disturbing one at that! Lucy, you tell yourself what it is!"

Lucy face-palmed, then approached the bar. She spoke in calm, low tones so that no one but Edo-Lucy could probably hear. Edo-Lucy's eyebrows shot higher and higher, until they were nearly lost in her hair.

"Well, first, we'll have to have Zuri tied to her side of the bed, and then our Wendy will sleep in the same room."

"...So many jokes," Paizuri grumbled.

"Wendy, you can get your own room," Edo-Wendy mentioned, "We have enough of them to spare."

Wendy gleefully clapped, before turning to Zuri, "Why is it you don't want to sleep in the same room as me?"

"You know how older women have a period?"

"Yeah?" 

"...Mine's different. And it happens less often. But, umm... I can't have anyone under seventeen sleeping in the same room as me. It's uhhh... bad for them."

"Is it somethiny icky?" 

"Yes." 

"Okay. Don't want to know, then," Wendy said, "But can I stay in your room for a bit?"

"Only until the other Wendy has to tie me down," Zuri said.

Wendy stuck her tongue out at Zuri, before crossing her arms, "She hasn't replaced me cuz she's older, has she?"

"Nah, nothing like that. You're still my adorable little ball of innocence. Which I'm trying my best not to corrupt, yet inadvertantly corrupting anyways."

Wendy smiled, happily, before giddily running off after Zuri and Edo-Wendy. The older girl did not look too entirely happy with the night ahead. After a moment, Charle rushed after them, wondering what happened to her Aera magic. Happy hopped down off the table and rushed over to Natsu, who picked him up. They looked over to Edo-Lucy.

"Our Natsu, you're with the other Lucy. Other Natsu? You and your cat are with me," Edo-Lucy said, crossing her arms.

Natsu chuckled, "Alright."

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

To prepare for bed, Charle had taken off the veil, but left the dress, Zuri had changed into a small shirt and skirt, while Wendy and her Edoras counterpart had found a slim nightgown. Edo-Wendy opened the door, and Zuri immediately launched into bed with a loud shout of "WOOHOO", imitated by Wendy. Edo-Wendy and Charle watched, disapprovingly, then locked eyes with each other.

"Always like this?" Edo-Wendy asked.

"Always. When Zuri isn't trying to fill Wendy's mind with disgusting things."

"Perfect."

Charle looked a little proud, "And to think that you grew up so well without me. Maybe my Wendy _does_ have hope."

Edo-Wendy smirked, as there was an indignant yelp from the younger Wendy, who happened to be upside down mid-jump. She nearly flew off the bed, before Paizuri grabbed her and fell back onto the bed. The succubus and Dragon Slayer erupted into a giggle fit, laughing hysterically, before Zuri let go and Wendy sat up.

"So, what do you mean by that, huh, Charle?" Wendy asked, sticking her tongue out at the cat.

"Oh, nothing, silly girl," Charle said, grinning.

Edo-Wendy continued to smirk, snickering a bt at her younger self's pouting, before noticing that Zuri had her legs spread, and she was _not_ wearing anything under the skirt. Edo-Wendy blushed and turned away.

"Y-you didn't put on any under-clothing!" Edo-Wendy asked, sharply.

"I'm comfortable like this. Succubus villages are nudist colonies, ya' know."

"Your village didn't wear clothes?" Wendy asked, "Wouldn't they be cold in the winter?"

"Succubae have a different sense of temperature," Zuri said, shrugging.

Wendy tilted her head, while Edo-Wendy stood up, sharply.

"I think it's time for bed," Edo-Wendy said.

"Oh, my favorite part of the night's coming up," Zuri said, laughing.

"Zuri, don't be that icky around other me. Other me? Be nice to Zuri."

The succubus shrugged, nodding, "I can try." 

"...I'll try as hard as she does."

Zuri grinned and ruffled Wendy's hair a bit, "Go on, sweetie."

Wendy smiled and nodded, before running out of the room, her arms out like wings. Charle rushed after her, cursing the inability to produce her wings. Edo-Wendy looked over at Zuri.

"Well, go on, tie me down. Ignore any moans, though. They're a pretty natural response to bondage at this point."

"...I should probably gag you while I'm at it."

Zuri sighed, shuddering, "Mmmm... that sounds good."

"Nixing the gag, then. I'll just have to try to tune you out." 

"Hey, no one else is in the room, which means I wouldn't be telling anyone your sexual attractions who didn't aready know."

"Oh, hell," Edo-Wendy murmured, before getting out the incredibly strong, though thin-looking, rope and looking at Zuri.

"I can give you specific knots and ways to tie me," Zuri said, winking at Edo-Wendy.

"Why is it you're out to get me?" 

"My Lucy is tied up in Erza. Your Lucy is head over heels for your Natsu. Most of the others are tied up in their own problems. You have a few, too, but you've got the face of the first girl I can safely say I fell for. She was kind to me and puts up with my antics, even those she doesn't wholeheartedly approve. She's never gotten angry at me or insulted me for what I am. And I bet you're like her. A lot like her." 

"You're only after me because you couldn't bring yourself to bed your Wendy? So, what, I'm a freaking silver medal?"

"That's probably the cold, hard truth of it. Sorry, I'm a sexual creature who fell in love. My logic and such are probably really screwed up."

"_More_ than just really screwed up. You barely know me, you just want me to fill out some sexual fantasy that you've locked away in the back of your mind."

"Hey, I'm not going to force you into it. If you say no, I'm not going to keep rubbing your back, got it? If you want me to get to know you, I'm fine with that. Really isn't gonna bug me or anything. If you never say yes, I'll deal. I'm all for making new friends. It just so happens that I'd totally sex you up without you even saying please."

Zuri laid there, calmly. Edo-Wendy stared down at her, annoyance in her gaze. The succubus shrank back a bit. Edo-Wendy approached her with the rope, with which she used to tie Zuri's hands and feet to the bed. Zuri made no sound, seemed calm as it all happened. There was a little shake to her, however, that gave away her true feelings on the matter. Edo-Wendy secured each knot, then settled into the bed, sure to leave a foot of empty bed between herself and Zuri.

"Are you used to sleeping alone?" Zuri asked.

"...Yeah. Why?"

"I am, too. So, ya know, I understand that you're probably uncomfortable enough without a tied-down succubus in your bed. Not... not many people can claim they've really done that."

"What are succubae in your world?"

"The first generaton were originally some sort of human, who infused their bodies with lachryma in the right places, and underwent all kinds of crazy rituals. After that, they went a little sex-crazy and the second generation was born, never having been human to start with. The lachryma altered the first generation so much that they didn't even really _have_ the second in the natural way. Men, women, both got pregnant. I was part of the third generation, even further distanced from humanity. As far as I know, none of the third generation has used the same sort of ritual as the second did to make children."

"Succubae in this world are different. There's an organization of assassins known as Hell. They have a bunch of different clans. Succubae kill through poisons and other, more subtle, means. They also seemed to value supposedly sensual aspects of murder. They're sick."

"The Edoras me was one of them. Damn, do they value disguises? Do you know if she had a real name?" 

"Her real name? Oh, right, Paizuri was her codename. Never bothered to find out her real name. She babbled about not being the last of them, but hell, the Hell assassins were mostly wiped out."

"Really?"

"Yeah. After we caught her, she told us their hideout. Not many of them survived us."

"Ah, yeesh, I've seen our Fairy Tail in action. Bet that was a brilliant wake-up call to Faust."

"Oh yes," Edo-Wendy said, chuckling, "He didn't appreciate it."

"The hell kind of assassin calls herself Paizuri?"

"They _were_ focused on the sensual side of murder."

"...Oh, wow, that... Wow."

Edo-Wendy smirked, with a brief glance over at Zuri, who, for once in her life, had no words. Edo-Wendy chuckled to herself, before curiosity compelled from her a question.

"If you hadn't fallen for the other Wendy, would you still be trying to seduce me?"

"Oh, hell yes, because you are seven kinds of hot, now."

"R-really...? You think so?" Edo-Wendy asked, blushing furiously.

"Damn good figure, not too skinny, your chest is big enough to grope, but not big enough to be distracting. Also, damn, your _eyes_. Final plus: your skin is light enough that your black hair is emphasized and it makes you that much better-looking for it."

Edo-Wendy stared at Paizuri, blinking, "You... noticed all of that?"

"I observe things. Especially when I stare at them long enough. Auras help that, since there's enough information in them to keep me staring, but you're genuinely beautiful enough. Oh, another plus: you haven't started beating me and didn't fight the idea of sleeping in the same bed as me. That kind of makes me like you a lot more. People who can put up with my initial series of assaulting them with all their deep-seated sexual urges are aces in my book. It's really astounding how many of them just up and run, ya know."

"I can imagine."

"But you and our Wendy were different, cuz you barely even acknowledge it. Just sorta... ask to change the subject, maybe. But never run. It's nice," Paizuri said, sleepily.

Edo-Wendy nodded, then whispered, "Good night, Zuri."

"Good night, older Wendy."

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Natsu and Happy sat down on the bed, looking around for a moment, testing the cushiness of it. Happy took off his helmet and dropped it by the bed, as Edo-Lucy dug through the drawers, before holding up a black negligee with red bows down the back of it. She slipped out of her outfit with surprising grace, faster than Natsu could realize it. As quick as a flash, she was completely naked in the room, and Natsu fell back with a nosebleed. Edo-Lucy slid the negligee on, patting it down on the sides, before slipping on an undergarment Natsu caught the image of, which caused further nosebleeding. Happy just watched Natsu, concerned for the blood loss.

"Wh-why would you strip in front of me...?"

"Don't be a prude. You've probably seen it a magazine, somewhere."

"But not in real life!"

"So you admit to looking at dirty magazines."

"Hey, hey, hey!" Natsu retorted, pointing an accusatory finger at her, "You just exposed yourself to me! I think you're the worse of the two!"

Edo-Lucy shrugged, "I don't have a problem with showing off my body. It's mine, and I just so happen to think it's nice enough to show off. Mirajane is on the same page, at least."

"It's, it's... I can't believe I'm channelling Erza of all people, it's improper!"

"Believe what you want, but if you keep arguing, I'll just take off the negligee and make you deal with nudism."

"Uhhhh...," Natsu "said" as his nose bled again.

"Pervert," Edo-Lucy said, grabbing Natsu and tweaking his ears, prompting an insisted, repeated, loud "ow" from the Dragon Slayer.

"You're calling me the pervert?" Natsu asked, "You got naked in front of me!"

"Can I help it if you're in the room when I have to change?" Edo-Lucy asked, shrugging, which caused her upper aspects to jiggle a bit.

"...Zuri?" Natsu asked.

Edo-Lucy glared at him, then punched him in the stomach.

"I'm... sorry... you're definitely... Lucy. No one punches like that," Natsu muttered.

Edo-Lucy nodded, crossing her arms, "Wanna make up for it?"

"Was the punch not enough...?"

"No. I'll keep punching you until you agree to my demands."

"Alright, alright," Natsu said, mentally preparing himself to guard against another punch, "I'll agree, just no punching."

"You're like our Natsu," Edo-Lucy said, and Natsu began preparing for something bad, "But since you're not him, I can tell you things and get a good idea of his reaction."

"Isn't that bad logic, since your Natsu is like our Natsu was always in a vehicle?" Happy asked.

"Well, shush, these are matters irrelevant to that."

"Okay, fire away, this should be easy."

"I find our Natsu annoying and a little spineless."

"That... that might make run away. He's already kinda scared of you."

"But I find him to be nice, too, and caring. That's like most of this guild, sure, but he's also... I dunno, he's got ferocity in a car, that I can admire. And he's never really gotten angry at me. Not even when I and Levi get into a scrap. So... He's got faults, but..."

"You like him!" Happy declared.

"Shut up, cat!"

Edo-Lucy fished around in the drawers for a moment, then pulled out a pair of goggles.

"He gave me these for my birthday, after I told him I liked his. I dunno how he managed to pay for it. It was so great of him to give this to me."

"But you don't wear it?" Natsu asked.

"Never. I don't want to get them damaged."

"Psh. The reason he got those for you is for you to wear 'em. Probably thinks ya didn't like 'em that much, after all."

Edo-Lucy looked at him with terror in her eyes, "Oh no! But wait, if I let him know I liked them, he may think I'm pathetic."

"Uh, no, I'm pretty sure he'll just be happy you wore the gift he gave you."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive on this. I'm not only a guy, I'm almost practically this guy's twin, or something. I think I know a little about how his mind works."

Edo-Lucy nodded, thoughtfully, "Okay, that's true. So, I'll just wear these from now on. I bet he loves Lisanna, though. Maybe I shouldn't bother."

"I don't know how things went, with a living Lisanna, so I got nothing," Natsu said.

"Oh. Oh my," Edo-Lucy muttered, "She...?"

"Two years back, she went on a mission with Mirajane and Elfman. She never came back."

Edo-Lucy gently covered her mouth as she gasped in surprise. Lisanna had died...? Natsu slid under the blanket, gripping the sheets tightly, his body tensed. Happy curled up at his feet, troubled.

"...You loved Lisanna?" Edo-Lucy asked, looking over at him.

There was a long silence between the two, and Edo-Lucy looked down, before putting the goggles on her nightstand and sliding under the covers as well.

"Still do."

Gulping, Edo-Lucy slid an arm around Natsu and pulled him against her. Natsu looked back at her with confusion.

"I'm not him."

"I know. And I'm not going to do anything... like that. I'm just comforting a friend, alright?"

Natsu nodded, "Alright."

"You tell anyone about this and I'll never forgive you."

"Gotcha."

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Charle and Wendy walked into their room, chattering away. Charle sat on Wendy's shoulder, holding on to her hair to easily stay on. Charle leaped off of her shoulder and onto the bed, where she curled up to sleep. Wendy sat down, taking off the slippers she had.

"Charle, do you know why Zuri doesn't want to sleep in the same room as me?"

"I have no idea, but I'm grateful she has enough sense to put you in a different room. I still don't approve of her."

"You never will, Charle," Wendy said, falling back into the bed, where she proceeded to get under the covers, snugly.

"I would, too, if she stopped being so overtly sexual."

"...You will never approve of her, Charle," Wendy murmured, curling up into a ball, for comfort.

"Probably so," Charle said, with a yawn, "But your friends are your choice."

Wendy smiled, before yawning, closing her eyes, and slowly drifting away.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Edo-Natsu nervously waited outside the door, tapping his foot a little. It was mostly out of anxiety, but there was a bit of impatience to it, as well. The door finally swung open to reveal Lucy in a blue and white nightgown. She crossed her arms, glaring at Edo-Natsu, who quailed.

"Don't get any funny ideas. I'm happily dating our world's Erza."

Edo-Natsu held out his hands, shaking, "No, no! Of course not. I'm doing this on orders, I promise."

Lucy looked him up and down, then nodded in approval, "Alright, good."

Edo-Natsu walked in after her, shaking a bit. Lucy gave him a nice grin.

"One bed, two people, I suppose you'll just have to sleep on the floor."

"But... but... Okay..."

Lucy arched a brow, "No fighting back? No insisting you have the right to sleep on the bed, too? What happened to the fierce driver?"

"He stepped out of the car...," Edo-Natsu said, preparing to lay down on the floor.

"...So you're only confident in the car. Huh. I was kidding, by the way," Lucy said, grabbing Edo-Natsu's hand and pulling him back up.

He offered no resistance, though he seemed terrified of her. Lucy pulled back the blankets, and the two of them slipped into bed. Lucy propped her head up on her hand, looking at Edo-Natsu, analytically.

"What has your Lucy done to you? Jeez," Lucy said, shaking her head.

"Oh, she's a jokester. She likes to dole out her punishments a lot, when I'm late or too early. Just, ya' know, out of good fun. She kind of scares me, these days."

Lucy's eyebrow twitched, "Scares you? Because of noogies?"

"Well, it's also because she's been all... flippy on me. Like, one minute she's all happy to see me, then she punishes me, then gets me a drink, only to spill it on me when I'm half done with it... I don't know what to expect. Scary... Plus, it's hard to be around her before bedtime, cuz she'll just up and change in front of me and I get too embarassed, so she yells at me for being too closed."

"Ummm... that's probably her way of playing hard-to-get? Or flirting. Weird woman. Can't believe she does stuff like that with my face. I ought to get her," Lucy mumbled.

"She's brave, though, and strong. Really, really strong. I'm grateful for her. So, there's that, at least," Edo-Natsu said, "...still so scary..."

Lucy chuckled, laid down, and turned away from Edo-Natsu, "You get those types of women. Our Erza's... pretty scary. But she's wonderful, underneath that... I miss her. And I'm afraid we won't be able to save them... any of them..."

"If our Erza will have anything to say about it."

"How could your Erza be so evil?" Lucy asked, quietly.

Edo-Natsu gulped, "I don't know why there's such a difference... but there is... Knightwalker is a monster. A pure, unceasing... monster..."

He shivered, and the words chilled Lucy.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Knightwalker sat in her room, removing the band around her hair. She twirled the spear in her hand a bit, re-affirming its weight, slowly shifting through all its forms, before dipping the bottom of it into a small pool of Lachryma, in order to give it back its charge. Edo-Erza removed her top and put on a different one, one she considered more relaxing, with the skull designs and the looser fitting. A knock sounded from her door. Sighing, she walked over to the door and opened it, swiftly, to the shock of the guards and the captive in-between them.

"Mistress Knightwalker, we caught someone with illegal Magic in the capital. We think they were trying to assassinate the King!" the guard to the left said.

Erza Knightwalker looked at the rather frightened-looking boy, probably a little over sixteen years of age.

"What was he doing?" Knightwalker asked.

"He had a Shatter Air Cannon, which he held in the direction of King Faust."

"No! I had no idea what it was, I swear!"

Knightwalker, in a blur, pulled a knife from her boot, then slid it into the boy's stomach, twisted it painfully, before ripping it out. Blood spattered out towards her, splashing onto her legs and lower torso, mostly. The guards, in their fright, dropped the boy, who lay on the stone floor, screaming in the agonizing pain.

"Knightwalker! Wh-what should we d-do?"

"Well, if you don't want to kill him, you can leave him there. Come back in about ten minutes, and you can drag his corpse out. Or, if you so choose, you can end his agony now and go ahead with your duties."

Both guards gulped. Knightwalker slammed the door behind her, and sat down to gently relax and enjoy the warmth of the blood on her legs. She had been taught to glory in the hunt, and she had done so. It's how she managed to murder half of those Fairies. Gajeel, Master Luxus, the prevous Master, Makarov. They were the strongest Fairy Tail had to offer, and she cut down each one without a problem.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

A massive cat-like man stood on a balcony. With black fur, cruel-looking armour, a sword in hand, and a scar on his face, he was clearly a battle-hardened warrior. He lightly touched the edge of the balcony, but his body was tensed as if ready to spring over it. He stood like that for a while, gently looking every which way. His nostrils flared and his ears cocked up. He gave no indication of knowing when the man with the pompadour and grin on his face, Sugarboy, walked in, his sword sheathed, as opposed to the cat-man's.

"His majesty will be returning soon, Pantherlily," Sugarboy said, "He'll probably wonder why you've hardly been in the castle. A question, I'm sure, we're all curious about."

"...Must you be so loud?" Pantherlily asked, his ears twitching a bit from Sugarboy's laughter.

"So, what's the purpose for all the midnight flights? Cooling your head? Trying to find Fairy Tail's new hide-out after Knightwalker lost them?" 

"I shall sever yours from your body if you insist on bothering me. I am the Leader of the First Division, and do not forget it," Pantherlily growled, his hand clenching tighter around his sword's hilt.

Sugarboy shrugged, hardly seeming to notice, though his eyes briefly took note of Pantherlily's blade ready by his side.

"Threats? Against your fellow military man? Getting a little too high and mighty, like your brothers and sisters on God's Island," Sugarboy said with a sneer.

The human let out a gasp of fright upon finding the Exceed's blade pointed at his neck. The panther-like man glared daggers at Sugarboy, before leaping off the balcony with such grace and speed that Sugarboy could barely follow his movement. Pantherlily took a breath upon feeling that bizarrely exhilirating falling feeling, calming himself enough to allow him to bring forth his wings. In a split-second, Pantherlily was off agan, flying through the sky with a speed and agility others of his kind envied.

They needed to know this latest news. Fairy Tail had moved again. They were probably growing desperate. Now was the time to make their move.

**End of Chapter Two**

So, because we have the occasional idea that is too horrible or too OOC to even put in this crackfic, yet too funny in some disturbing way _not_ to share it, Ocil and I decided on omakes.

_**-OMAKE: Gildartz, part the first-**_

Natsu walked into Gildartz's small, personal home of a sort and immediately caught the whiff of alcohol. Gildartz drank every now and then, but it was never particularly fun to be around him. His nickname as the Crash Mage came from something other than his powers...

"Hey, Natsu... how are you and Lisanna doin'...?"

Natsu stood stone-still, his blood frozen in his veins.

"She died... two years ago."

"Haw, your girlfriend's dead!"

It also came from his ability to crash your self-esteem and good mood.

_**-OMAKE: I'll KILL you-**_

Paizuri looked at Wendy, whose hands her on her hips, a fierce expression in her eyes, "You do not get to spout off other me's fetishes! Never ever! That's just wrong!"

"...I was kinda curious," Edo-Lucy muttered.

"Just like Edo-Wendy!" Paizuri declared, joyfully.

"You bitch! I'll _kill_ you!" Wendy shouted, lunging for the succubus.


	3. Hell Is Other People

**Chapter Three: Hell Is Other People**

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

_"You see this lachryma? This mammoth of a gem, in all its might, is just a piece of a mightier gem. The gem I'm slowly bringing in can last us for a full ten years!"_

_The crowd cheered, before Faust whirled around and smacked the lachryma with his staff, sending a chunk of it flying through the air. The cheers toned down, slowly, watching with curiosity._

_"AND I WILL MAKE EVEN THIS LOOK LIKE TRASH!" Faust roared, "I WILL ATTAIN, FOR OUR WORLD... MAGIC! ETERNAL!"_

_The people cheered again, and all sense of self was lost in the teeming mass of the blind following the blind. Until suddenly, something disrupted their festivities._

_"Hey, ugly!" a voice cried out, "The only trash I see around here is you!"_

_Faust turned out towards the crowd, his eyes wild with rage. He held up his sceptre and pointed it out towards the crowd, glaring._

_"Who dares!" the king roared, "Who DARES!"_

_"Name's Gajeel Redfox, fugly!"_

_A man leaped from the crowd, covered in dark grey metal plating, with amazing strength and speed. Faust tried to shoot at him with his trident, but missed, the bolt of energy flying past him, with zero effort. Gajeel landed, grinning underneath the metal "skin" he wore, before bolting for the Lachryma, preparing his draconic nature. Even if he couldn't use his usual Dragon Slayer magic, the equipment those cats gave him would let him channel the innate energy he _did_ have in spades._

_Claws tore through the Lachryma and a pulse of energy tore through the giant chunk, seemingly obliterating in a pulse of blinding light. Faust cried out, falling on his face. When everyone could see agan, Gajeel was gone, as was the Lachryma._

_Panic erupted._

_"Pantherlily! Get down here!" Faust cried out._

_"I'm on him, sire," the cloaked warrior said, rushing off._

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

One by one, everyone managed to get up and out of their rooms, in varying states of wakefulness. They met in the bar area, ordering breakfast, forcing Edo-Mirajane, Edo-Lisanna, and Edo-Elfman to get to work as early as ever. The assorted Fairy Tailers, Edoras or Earthland, sat down at various tables.

Natsu busily gorged on a large piece of bread and sausage, while Happy slurped milk, giddily. Lucy sat down at the table, with a toasted bagel and juice. She looked at the two for a moment, then shook her head.

"I had the weirdest conversation with the other Natsu last night," Lucy said, chuckling.

"Shyeh, vuh ubber Lusha's fimba wib," Natsu mumbled through a mouthful of food.

"Don't talk with food in your mouth!" Lucy snapped.

Natsu swallowed down the hung of sausage, gasped, and said, "Yeah, the other Lucy's kinda weird."

"I already noticed," Lucy muttered.

"So, how'd sleeping with other me go?" Natsu said, before cramming bread in his mouth.

"I bet Erza would be mad if she found out you had slept with Natsu," Happy said.

"DON'T SAY THINGS LIKE THAT!" Lucy raged, smacking Happy through the air.

"It's true," Natsu said, pointing at Lucy, "But don't worry, we won't say anything."

Lucy grumbled, "The other Natsu crushes on the other Lucy, anyways."

"It works in reverse, too," Natsu said, gulping down the last, over-large piece of sausage.

Happy pulled himself up on the table, "As if it wasn't obvious... Scary Lucy is like our Lucy, only her scariness is directed at Wimpy Natsu."

"...Brillant in its simplicity," Lucy said, rolling her eyes.

"Well, anyways, we need to think of a plan to get the others out of the Lachryma," Natsu said, "Those guys can work out their own problems."

"How heartless!"

"Hey, you didn't get help from anyone in order to get with Erza, didja? Didn't think so." 

"Well, technically..."

"Technically, Erza's a cradle robber, so shut it. I'm focused on my _family_, dammit."

"Okay, they used Anima to turn our friends into Lachryma, so maybe we can use Anima to turn them back. But how are we going to get our hands on the Anima...? Oh, this is hopeless...," Lucy murmured.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

_Gajeel rushed through the back alleys, Gray and Erza slung over his shoulders. Those cats had told him that his friends would be pretty out of it even once released. He was glad the armour he had, whatever the Doc called it, enhanced his already bad-ass level strength to where the Fairies were hardly an issue in his fleeing. Yeah, Gajeel would've enjoyed kicking Faust in the face a few times, but he knew when he had to get serious. Protecting these two punks was _very_ serious. _

_He was annoyed when he heard the hastening footsteps of a pursuer. Damn, this guy was fast! Who was he! Gajeel put as much as he could into running, straining himself, until finally he heard the footsteps dwindle away. Gajeel grinned._

_Then he nearly fell over in shock as a large armoured figure stepped down in front of him, clearly floating. A moment later, Gajeel realized it had a panther's face. He chuckled, keeping his friends on his shoulders._

_"You that guy the others were talking about? You got guts, doing this."_

_Pantherlily swung his mighty sword towards Gajeel, growling._

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Wendy, Charle, and Edo-Wendy sat a different table from the others, somewhat near the bar. Wendy happily drank juice, while the others had actual breakfast foods.

"...Does Zuri always ramble?" Edo-Wendy asked.

"Yup, yup, that's Zuri," Wendy said, smiling, "She's funny."

"Motor mouth couldn't shut up to save her life," Charle muttered.

Wendy elbowed Charle, jarring the cat, before taking a sip from her juice again, "She's good company, though."

Edo-Wendy nodded, "She is... fun to talk to, I must admit."

"If you like hearing about sexual exploits, constantly."

"Hey, she's never described a single one of those things to me," Wendy grumbled.

"She never did that for me, either," Edo-Wendy said, raising a brow.

"You don't have cat ears. You can't hear her at night, before she goes to bed. Levy is _far_ too interested and always overly amazed," Charle said, her ears flicking, annoyed.

"You're just annoyed by Zuri's existence," Wendy said, crossing her arms.

Charle whistled, innocently, and Edo-Wendy snickered. Wendy harrumphed, then sipped from her juice again.

"She's not that bad," Edo-Wendy said, shrugging, "Entertaining, though she obviously doesn't need as much sleep as a normal human, since she was up before I was."

"She was? Did she get out of the ropes?" Charle asked.

"Nah, she mentioned she'd been awake for the past hour but didn't want to wake me," Edo-Wendy said.

Charle looked ready to make a comment, but decided to hold it back for the meantime, instead eating some more of her eggs. Wendy glanced at her, then nodding, approvingly.

"Charle, do you have a plan? We need to figure out how we're gonna free the others from the Lachryma," Wendy said.

The white cat looked down for a moment, then up at Edo-Wendy, "Do you happen to know a way to free people who've been turned to Lachryma?"

Edo-Wendy shook her head, "Sorry. We barely have time to keep ourselves alive, let alone worry about Lachryma conversion. We've done all we can in teaching you how to use your weapons."

Wendy nodded, looking at the gauntlet, shaking, "Yes... And I'm grateful. I just... I just want my family back..."

The elder girl closed her eyes tight, in pain, "Sorry. I'm really sorry..."

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

_King Faust sat on his throne, growling, tapping his fingers on the jewelled arm of the chair. He sneered at everything around him, angry about what a fool that damned intruder had made of him. Ruining his perfect display of power! Stealing his Lachryma! What next! He'd ensure that damn Gajeel Redfox... that name sounded familiar, but it couldn't be... Argh, the very thought of the one who interrupted being part of that damned Dark Guild made him even angrier! He'd ensure the fool would be strung up by his limbs and slowly killed in front of a crowd who mocked him viciously. There was a slow death in store for him, yes, indeed..._

_Faust looked up towards the door, a noise sounding from it. A moment later, Pantherlily entered the room. Ah, good, he would be reporting of the fool's capture, now..._

_"My apologies, my liege. The intruder had Magic I have never encountered. He surprised and over-powered me, before making his escape. It's why I had to take so long... I had to stop by the medical area to get a few things treated."_

_Pantherlily held up his right arm, which has heavily bandaged. Blood still dripped from his left arm, which had a few gashes Faust noticed, frightened. What could have done that to him?_

_"I'm concerned as to where he got that Magic," Pantherlily said, after a moment, noting the King's concern._

_"Yes, yes, we can deal with that, later. He's probably part of Fairy Tail. Fool called himself after one of theirs, even. Let Knightwalker take care of them. You will continue in your place, understood? Now get your other arm bandaged."_

_"Yes, sire," Pantherlily said, bowing._

_**-FAIRY TAIRU-**_

Edo-Lucy looked around, wondering if anyone would notice she was wearing the goggles Edo-Natsu had given her. If they did, she would punch whoever called her out, and then she'd deck Edo-Natsu for these stupid- No, no, wait. That's not the right path. She wanted to be nice to Edo-Natsu, so that he would like her. But if she was too nice, he might realize she liked them and then reject her out of disgust. Oh, this train of thought was going to drive her crazy. She hated over-thinking everything...

"Hey, Luce," Edo-Natsu said, meekly, "Glad to see you wearing the goggles."

Edo-Lucy smiled, then sat down at the table in front of him. He blinked, clearly a bit concerned, before smiling at her.

"Yeah, I like 'em," Edo-Lucy said, shrugging.

"I've got more, probably could find some in a color you like, if you wanted," Edo-Natsu said, looking down at his plate.

"Pfft. These are good enough," Edo-Lucy said, shrugging, "So don't worry about it, alright?"

Edo-Natsu nodded, "Alright."

"If you try to get me any other goggles, you're getting punishments."

Edo-Natsu shrunk back, "Gotcha."

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

_Gajeel set Erza and Gray down before the two cats that tapped down in front of him. A third latched onto his back, and they were away, immediately. Before long, they arrived on the flying island, and Gajeel let out a sigh of relief. He looked around at all the cats, most of them only reaching his knees. _

_"Yo, hey there, Shaggy," he said, saluting the most regal-looking amongst the cats._

_"It's Queen Shagotte, you buffoon!" one of the other shouted._

_"It's fine, he's amusing," Queen Shagotte said, chuckling, "And besides, he has just delivered us our gift to Fairy Tail."_

_"Yeah, that'll definitely sway 'em. I know how they are," Gajeel said, with a chuckle._

_Queen Shagotte smiled, "Get the other two to the medical area. Thank you, Gajeel, you've been incredibly invaluable."_

_"Yeah, I'm awesome that way," Gajeel said, grinning._

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

"Hey, Elfman," Zuri said, sitting at the bar, looking at him, her head tilted, her hands on her hips.

"Hiya, you alright?" Edo-Elfman asked, "Want anything?"

"I'm kinda hungry, and I was able to hit up your other you for food, so, ya' know, kinda figured..."

"Oh, sure. Whatcha' want? We got eggs, sausage, toast... Miss, you okay?"

Zuri leaned forward, and Edo-Elfman got a clear view of the fact that she was _not_ wearing a bra. He gulped, tugging at his collar.

"You don't know much about me, so I wouldn't expect you to know how I feed," Paizuri said, softly, "I think you need to take a break from cooking."

"Oh, um, well... If I quit cooking, Mira will do bad things to me..."

"I'll make up for it," Paizuri said, raising both of her eyebrows for a moment, as she looked him up and down.

Edo-Elfman gulped, then set down the towl he had been using to wipe down the bar with, "Uhhh..."

Zuri grabbed his collar and pulled him in close, "You know the room I was in last night?"

"...Ah-huh..."

"You, me, up there. You got ten minutes."

"...Okay..."

She lightly nipped his neck, "See ya."

Edo-Elfman was considerably distracted for the next ten minutes, until he finally asked for a quick bathroom break. Edo-Mirajane quirked a brow, but nodded, and away he went.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Over the course of the next hour, things grew quieter in the Fairy Tail guild. Years of hiding from Fairy Hunter, the guild was gradually forced to learn to become more subdued. Lucy, Wendy, Charle, Happy, and Edo-Wendy had gone outside to watch for any sign of Fairy Hunter. Edo-Mirajane looked around, then scowled. Edo-Lisanna looked at her older sister with concern.

"What's up, Mira?"

"Your brother has _never_ taken a bathroom break this long."

"W-well, maybe he... Maybe he ate something that really didn't agree with him, last night? He did cook his own meal, and I think he mentioned it being his first time..."

Edo-Mirajane looked at her younger sister, then out at the other members of Fairy Tail.

"Ya' know, I'm not seeing that succubus out there. And I _distinctly_ recall seeing her sitting in front of Elfman before his disappearance," Edo-Mirajane said, tapping her foot, "If he skimped out for... I'll KILL that succubus!"

Edo-Mirajane prepared to head for the upstairs bedrooms, when a pulse of some strange energy rippled through the base. A moment later, Edo-Levy stood up, her eyes widened.

"This is a magical barrier!" she shouted, "It's gotta be Fairy Hunter! Shit, how the hell did they find us!"

"Levy, get the teleporter ready. We've gotta get out there and grab the others! We've gotta run, NOW!" Edo-Lucy roared.

"Elfman is scrubbing the entire floor if he's still up there when this is all over and done with," Edo-Mirajane snapped.

Natsu grabbed up his sword and rushed towards the exit, only to run smack into an invisible wall and be rebounded inward.

"I told you, moron, it's a magical barrier," Edo-Levy snapped, booting up the teleporter.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Charle had been the first to notice her fellows as they descended towards Fairy Tail. She let out a cry and pointed up towards the sky. Immediately, Wendy held up her gauntlet, ready for battle. Edo-Wendy pulled her blade out, unactivated, and held up her other arm, a shield gem locked on it. Lucy, meanwhile, cracked her whip in obvious preparation for the battle, drawing one of her keys at random in preparation for the battle. She glanced at it, recognized the symbol, just as the four cats all dropped down around them. Happy stepped forward, trying to be fierce.

"Gate of the Ram! Aries!" Lucy shouted.

The key dispersed, and Lucy felt the charge of energy, now recognizable, as a bit of her body shifted. She blinked, in confusion, as to what, precisely, shifted, however...

"Hello, members of Fairy Tail from Earthland and Edoras alike," the taller of the cats, with a strangely familiar, sparkly face, "I am Ichiya! Edo-Ichiya to you guys, undoubtedly, as I'm sure my handsome visage is to be found in Earthland. And, oh, yes, hello fellow Exceed. You did remarkable in leading back your Dragon Slayer to Edoras... Except you, where's your Dragon Slayer?"

Happy pointed back at the Guild door, where Natsu was busily ramming his head against the magical barrier.

"Oh, I see. You got a rather... _special_ Dragon Slayer. Well, if the files are right, he's good at destroying things, so you take what you can get," the Exceed emissary said, scratching his chin.

"Okay, you told Charle she was gonna have to kill Wendy! Why should we believe you!" Happy snapped.

"Well, we have this guy," Edo-Ichiya said.

A moment later, a familiar face dropped down in front of them. Gajeel Redfox grinned at them.

"You idiots really can't do anything right without my help," he said, grinning.

"This is the reason we should trust you?" Happy asked, indignantly.

"That's uhh... That's kind of a backward step, there," Lucy said, "You are now in the negatives."

"...He scares me," Wendy said, hiding behind Edo-Wendy.

"Oh, come on, that is total bullshit," Gajeel snapped.

"How can you not trust that grinning, murderous fa- Okay, yeah, we screwed up, but hey!" Edo-Ichiya said, before half-singing, "We brought PRESENTS!"

Two more familiar figures dropped down, carried by more Exceed. Everyone gasped in surprise as the two Earthland Fairy Tail members grinned. Lucy rushed towards Erza and threw her arms around the Armor Mage, squealing in delight.

"Lucy, when did you start carrying knives on your person?" Erza asked.

"Oh, umm... Did you know Aries is a ram?" Lucy asked, blushing.

"I suppose I'll ask, later," Erza said, arching a brow.

"Do I get a hug?" Gray asked, looking at the others with a smirk on his face.

Wendy ran to him and he laughed, bending down a bit as she threw her arms around his neck, laughing. Edo-Wendy stared at Erza, shaking, every molecule of her being demanding she run, run, as far away as she possibly could. This woman had the same face, had the same air of power as the Knightwalker who had murdered half of her family. No, this wasn't her, but it looked every bit like her and that just _shook_ Edo-Wendy to her absolute core, as she began backing away from them all.

"Well, see, we're kind of in a floating island which is kind of suspicious when it stops moving, so we'd be really appreciative if you guys would, uh, hurry up and board," Edo-Ishiya said, snapping his fingers.

The Exceed behind him pulled out four small poles, which they touched together, then pointed at the Fairy Tail guild. The forcefield dissipated, and Natsu rushed out at mach speed to punch Gray in the face. Other members of the Edoras Fairy Tail stepped out, cautiously, observing the odd, peaceful (aside from Natsu and Gray) sight.

"YOU STRIPPING BASTARD WHAT THE HELL TOOK YOU SO LONG!"

"ME! WHO THE HELL TOOK SO LONG AND DIDN'T EVEN MAKE A RESCUE ATTEMPT!"

"OH SCREW YOU! I WAS WORKIN' ON IT! HOW THE HELL WAS I SUPPOSED METAL FACE WAS GONNA HAVE A PLAN, SOMEHOW!"

"MORON!"

"PERVERT!"

Natsu and Gray viciously fought, punching each other into oblivion. Erza and Lucy shared a small kiss, then turned to the Exceed.

"How long until all the Lachryma is processed?" Lucy asked.

"Almost three days," Edo-Ichiya said, "We need to attack tomorrow, so as not to waste any time."

Lucy nodded, "We've got this, but... the others will need to get used to seeing our Erza. Get us tonight, alright?"

Edo-Ishiya stared for a moment, then fell back, "WH-WH-WHAAAAAAAAAA!"

"Look, if you want us to possibly work together, you're going to want all of your team not utterly terrified of one of its members. And you'll want everyone to kind of know each other, just a bit, alright?" Lucy said, annoyed.

"B-but... Alright... The Queen isn't gonna like this."

"Ah, Shaggy'll be alright. She won't care, we got plenty o' time," Gajeel said.

"SHAGOTTE!" Edo-Ishiya roared, before taking off, leading the Exceed back up to the island.

Natsu and Gray rolled across the ground, punching and kicking at one another, growling and shouting as they fight continued to escalate. Erza's voice pierced their minds, with just a chuckle. They looked up to see Erza and immediately hugged each other, giving her their biggest smiles.

"We're being good! We're being good!" Gray shouted.

"AYE!" Natsu yelped.

"Alright guys, we're going to go in, in a crowd. Everyone surround Erza, alright?" Lucy said, gently, "You understand why, right, Erza...?"

"I have heard of what Knightwalker did. Also, I think I know what you mean by Aries being a-"

"Yes, yes, we'll discuss that later," Lucy said, with a loud, nervous giggle, "Everyone surround Erza, now, please?"

Immediately, the Earthland Fairy Tail members complied. Just in time, as all of the Edoras Fairy Tail guild had emerged from the bizarre building. Edo-Levy, Edo-Jet, and Edo-Droy stepped forward, ready for battle.

"Who is that, with you?" Edo-Levy asked, through gritted teeth.

"This is Erza Scarlet," Lucy said, staring at them, "She's the Erza from Earthland. She's okay." 

Edo-Lucy broke through the crowd and stood in front of the Edoras' Shadow Gear, holding out her hands, "Knock it off! The hell did you expect? For their Erza to look totally different from ours?"

"How do we know this hasn't been some big, damn ploy to trick us?" Edo-Jet asked.

"Yeah, come on. Another world?" Edo-Droy asked, "Really?"

Edo-Wendy, Edo-Mirajane, and Edo-Natsu broke through the others, surrounding the Shadow Gear team.

"Look, I've been around them, all of them, and they're friends, I know it," Edo-Wendy said, "They're weird, sure, but dammit, they're on our side!"

"Yeah! I'm certain my brother would back me up if he weren't in imminent danger of maximum punishment when I say that none of these people are against us, even their Erza. Got it!" Edo-Mirajane snapped.

"That is Natsu. It is not _our_ Natsu, but he has the same heart, damn it," Edo-Lucy snapped, "And if he trusts the others, I trust them, too."

After a moment, the others looked to Edo-Natsu, who quivered a bit, before nervously raising his hand and adding, "A-aye...!"

"That's you?" Gray asked, doubling over with laughter.

"Oh yeah! WELL YOU SHOULD SEE YOURSELF! OTHER GRAY, GET OVER HERE!"

"Like the other me could be worse than- WHAT THE HELL!" Gray shouted, staring at his Edoras counterpart.

"You're me!" both of them shouted.

"Get some clothes on!" Edo-Gray shouted, just as his Earthland counterpart snapped, "Take those off!"

"So, are you going to attack an Erza who would fight on our side?" Edo-Lucy demanded, "When the others clearly trust her? Have we degenerated THIS much!"

The others looked down, ashamed, but nodded, agreeing. Gajeel crossed his arms, chuckling. Edo-Lucy walked inside and waved for everyone else to follow.

"Let's get out of the open," she said over her shoulder, "Fairy Hunter could be close. Never know, with her."

Erza and Lucy stayed, watching the others enter. Natsu and Wendy grinned at them, just showing how glad they were that Erza was back, before rushing inside. Lucy wrapped her arms around Erza again, smiling warmly. Erza chuckled and gently patted Lucy on the back.

"You alright?" Erza asked.

"I was so worried about you." 

"I'm right here, so you don't have to worry anymore."

"Yeah," Lucy murmured, nuzzling into Erza's neck, "And you don't know how happy that's made me..."

"We still have the others to free," Erza said.

"There's a difference, now."

"Which is?" 

"We've got more allies and a way to free them. We've got hope, finally," the Stellar Spirit Mage said, chuckling.

Erza smiled, then leaned down to share a kiss.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Edo-Elfman sat up in the bed, the covers over his lower half, his head tilted back. Zuri was a lump under the covers, exercising her craft to its fullest. It may have been an hour and a half, but Edo-Elfman barely noticed the passage of time. If he had, he would've wondered what the hell was going on, as to how long he'd been able to go without passing out. As he was, his mind was... clouded. A moment later, just as he had shuddered, the clouds were blown away when the door was tossed open to reveal Edo-Mirajane standing in the doorway. Edo-Elfman yelped, and Zuri sat up, wiping at her mouth, revealing their unclothed states.

"Bathroom break?" she asked.

"Oh, um... Well...," Edo-Elfman babbled.

"I was hungry, he was male," Paizuri quickly explained, "Don't blame him."

"Oh, brother knows what he should and shouldn't do. His cooking shift wasn't completed, and he ditched it. For you."

"Ya' know, I probably could've snatched Lisanna. Just saying."

"She's straight."

"My point," Zuri said, snickering.

"...Your bikini is awaiting you, Elfman," Edo-Mirajane said, "And I'll figure out something for you, Zuri, but you've got cleaning duty, too."

"That's boring. Can you at least give me another hour? I'm still hungry," Zuri whined, "I need at least _two_ hours of sexual energy to really fill up."

Edo-Mirajane laughed, whirled around, and shut the door behind her.

"I'm frightened. She's going to hit me," Edo-Elfman said.

Zuri pulled the covers over the both of them, "Yeah, you're about to forget about that." 

"I don't see how! I mean, Mira is terrifying and she's going to do..."

He would later have to be reminded that his name was Elfman.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

The Edoras counterparts to Mirajane and Lisanna busily discussed something in the corner, with Lisanna's face red with embarassment and laughter as Mirajane did most of the talking. Natsu sighed, looking around for a way to get a drink without disrupting their talk, before simply turning towards Gajeel and Gray.

"Well, it's good to have normalcy," Natsu said, "I mean, jeez, other Gray and other Natsu are... _friendly_ with each other. It's good to finally know I can punch the Gray beside me and everything's cool."

"I find this place hysterical. Big bonus? Other Mira walks around in a fuggin' string bikini. I wish I could take pictures," Gajeel said, grinning, "Or maybe convince our Mira to follow suit."

"What? And watch gramps freak out the entire time she's in the room?" Gray asked.

"Look, you're just saying that because you get to see Juvia in the buff on your own time. The rest of us are less fortunate so as to not yet have acquired a female companion," Gajeel replied, "Though I'll totally have a harem, just you wait."

"You'd need Loke's advice."

"Eh, remind me to ask Lucy to bring him out. In fact, I think I'll go do that, now," Gajeel said, standing up.

"Uh, Erza and Lucy just met up," Gray said, "And if Juvia's daily complaints about them are right, I'd say you need to wait."

"Nah, it's cool. I'm sure they're just making out," Gajeel said, shrugging.

_**-FAIRY TAIL: What's the worst that could happen?-**_

"Hey, Charle, do you know where Zuri is?" Wendy asked, "I haven't seen her around, anywhere."

"If what I'm hearing from this world's Mira and Lisanna is correct, I have an unfortunate idea as to where she is."

"Hm?" Wendy asked.

"She's in her room."

"Oh, great, let's go talk to her!"

"Let's not, please," Charle said, grabbing onto Wendy's wrist, trying to pull her back.

"I know you don't like Zuri, but come on, Charle, let's go!" Wendy shouted, rushing towards the stairway.

"Wendy, I'm trying to protect you here! Zuri is upstairs, _with Elfman_."

"So they're... oh...," Wendy said, coming to a stop, "Well, uh... I wonder where Erza and Lucy are."

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Happy sat alone outside, worried. He was about to meet the rest of his race for the very first time. The Exceed, they were called. He had never really wondered about his origins. Being told he came from an egg was enough for him, just because he always had his friends. Now, he found out he was a member some race of beings who had supposedly tried to kill the Dragon Slayers? What was going on? Happy sighed, wondering if he would still be allowed to be friends with Natsu? No, that wasn't right. To hell with them if they said he couldn't be friends with Natsu! He knew Natsu before he knew any of them, and he wasn't going to up and betray his friends for some family that didn't even care enough about him to keep him around!

Happy nodded to himself. He'd stick by his friend, no matter what. The Exceed grinned, before rushing inside the guild.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Edo-Juvia approached Natsu and Gray, calmly, a glint in her eye.

"So, you finally stopped wearing so many clothes, Gray," she said, chuckling, "Juvia supposes Mirajane taught you a bit about proper dress?"

A moment later, Gray had his shirt off, and Edo-Juvia blinked, "Ummm... she may have taught you too well." 

"Stop stripping, perv!" Natsu shouted, smacking Gray.

Edo-Juvia blinked, "...You strip, now?" 

"Sorry, sorry, force of habit," Gray said, slipping his shirt back on.

Natsu rolled his eyes, but looked towards Edo-Juvia, "Ya get used to him after a while. But you still want to punch his lights out."

"...Juvia's mistake. Juvia thought you were our Gray," Edo-Juvia said, smirking, "Later."

"I thought you avoided him like the plague," Natsu pointed out.

"Only when Juvia is not feeling flirtatious," Edo-Juvia said with a grin, before walking away.

"...Oh, I get it," Natsu said, "She didn't strip, so it took me this long to realize she's got your personality."

"Moron," Gray said.

"WHAT'D YOU CALL ME, ICICLE BRAIN!"

"I CALLED YA A MORON, WHAT YA GONNA DO!"

Natsu lunged for Gray and the two became little more than a fight cloud of fists, kicks, bites, and shouts of rage. The others largely ignored this, having heard enough of Earthland to peg it as normal. Edo-Juvia laughed to herself as she approached Edo-Gray, who watched her.

"A bonus to you wearing so many clothes is that Juvia knows she will be the only one to see your body," Juvia muttered under her breath.

"What was that, wonderful Juvia?" Edo-Gray asked, hearts in his eyes.

"Oh, nothing. Juvia was just musing to herself."

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Wendy and Charle walked down the hall, and a moment later, Charle held out her hand, stopping Wendy. Her ears twitched, and she wrinkled her nose.

"...Let's not go any further," Charle said.

"Is everyone going to be doing bad things today?" Wendy quietly pouted.

Gajeel walked right on past them, whistling. He approached the door to Lucy's room and grabbed the handle.

"Gajeel, no!" Charle shouted.

The Iron Dragon Slayer looked over at them, shrugged, and opened the door. He stood there, for a moment, before his eyes widened and his jaw dropped.

"L-Lucy... YOU'RE A MAN!"

A moment later, Gajeel was slammed into the wall by an airborn dresser. Wendy heard a loud _thunk_ and got a brief glimpse of Erza, with a blanket around her, glaring at the fallen Gajeel with the most intensity Wendy had ever seen, before the Knight slammed the door shut.

"What... what did that mean?" Wendy asked.

"We're not finding out, come on," Charle said.

"B-but! Gajeel's hurt!" Wendy said.

"I'll be fine. My mind won't be, but I will," Gajeel grumbled from beneath the dresser, slowly pushing it off of him.

"We'll... just be off, then," Charle said, "Since you're alright. _And you better not say anything about what you saw._"

"Please, like anyone would believe me," Gajeel snapped, getting up, "And, of course, I'll tell some kid and her cat."

Charle and Wendy immediately turned around and rushed away, eager to get away from the undoubtedly horrible sight.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

A few minutes after Gajeel's interruption, Erza and Lucy finished up, as it were, and simply laid under the covers, smiling. Lucy sighed, happy for the quieter moments, and Erza gently looked down at her, holding the younger girl close.

"Too bad the Aries thing only works here," Erza said, chuckling.

"...it's... pretty... disturbing," Lucy said, blushing.

Erza shrugged, then kissed Lucy on the forehead. For a moment, the girls were silent, just enjoying the pleasantness of one another's company.

"Mmm... I love you," Lucy muttered.

"Love you, too, Lucy," Erza whispered.

They stayed like that, holding one another close, half-dozing. It was their own perfect little world, where the troubles of Edoras simply weren't, for the moment. A sanctuary, in each other's arms. This was short-lived, as the door swung wide open, revealing Paizuri with a big shirt on, but nothing else.

Without really taking in the scene, Paizuri shouted, "ERZA, ERZA, ERZA! YAY! I HEARD YOU WERE BACK, but... oh... wait. Sorry, my bad."

Erza sighed, face-palming, "What is it, Zuri?"

"What, I can't just say hi every now and then? Hey, Lucy, what's with your aura? ...Oh. Oh, wow."

"Shut up!" Lucy shouted, clenching the blankets tight up around her.

"Hey, hey, hey, I don't judge," Zuri said, cackling, "You could probably achieve the same effect without using your Celestial Spirits, though."

"Of course you know these things," Erza muttered, before pointing towards the door, "I'll visit with you, later. Get out."

"Awww... I wanted to see," Zuri said, before Erza tossed a nearby bottle at her, causing the succubus to close the door to protect herself.

Erza shook her head, "I'll get her for impropriety, later."

Lucy pulled her back down, smiling. They wrapped their arms around each other, and had a sanctuary again.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Around lunchtime, Erza and Lucy walked down the stairs, nervously. Various members of the Edoras Fairy Tail stared a bit, got a little quieter, but most seemed largely fine with what happened. Edo-Lucy waved at them, and so they sat down at the table with her.

"Hey, uh, is there any way you could change your appearance?" Edo-Lucy asked, "It'd be a way to, ya know, differentiate yourself from Knightwalker."

"I could trim my hair," Erza said, "And perhaps change the settings on my magic eye..."

A moment later, her eyes were unsynchronized in color, her natural one brown, and the other green. Lucy pulled up one of her Stellar Spirit Keys, grinning.

"Gate of the Crab. Cancer," she said, invoking the power.

A moment later, two pairs of scissors appeared in her hands, and her hairstyle to change to that of Cancer's, "Alright, how do you like it, shrimp?"

Erza tapped her chin for a moment, "Just cut it a little shorter. So that's there is a recognizable difference." 

"Gotcha. One moment, shrimp!" Lucy declared, her scissors going to work.

Thirty seconds later, Erza's hairstyle was more remniscient of her childhood days, with it curling inwards at the tips and only going to her neck. She sighed, after a moment.

"I rather liked having long hair, though this will be more manageable, I suppose," Erza said, shrugging.

"Looks good," Edo-Lucy said, giving a thumbs-up.

"Awesome, shrimp," Lucy said, before she closed the gate, causing the scissors to disappear, her hair to return to normal, and the Key to reappear, "...It's weird doing that."

"Doing what?" Edo-Lucy asked.

"Ya' know, attaining part of my Spirit, rather than just summoning them. I think I prefer summoning, because getting their mental state is messing me up." 

"You didn't seem that different when you had summoned Aries," Erza pointed out.

"I also was too confused, then too happy, to be timid, like her," Lucy replied, shrugging.

"Confused?" Edo-Lucy asked.

Lucy turned away, chuckling nervously, not really looking at Edo-Lucy. The Edoras counterpart raised an eyebrow, but made no further attempts to discover what happened. Instead, she turned towards Erza.

"So, what's your talents?" Edo-Lucy asked.

"I'm primarily a sword-wielder," Erza said, simply, "In Earthland, I am able to swap armors in an instant."

"That's a useful power," Edo-Lucy said, grinning.

"Made changing clothes easier."

"How did you two get together?" Edo-Lucy asked, "I mean, I didn't particularly think anyone so like me would necessarily go for a girl, but hey."

"It was during a mission," Erza said, "There was a psychotic, mind-reading _bitch_ involved. Don't get me started on her, because she was one of the worst sentient _things_ I've enountered in my entire _life... _Including my time as a SLAVE." 

"...Wow, this girl sounds like a ton of fun at parties," Edo-Lucy remarked, before turning to Lucy, "She has issues..."

"We're working on those," Lucy said, gently patting Erza on the back.

"The mind-reading _whore_ spilled out some of my feelings for Lucy, trying to mentally attack me, but Lucy told me how she actually felt, so yeah."

"That... that's probably one of the more disturbing ways to get together."

"It was," Lucy said, "Of course, anything involving Venny is disturbing."

"I can imagine," Edo-Lucy said, nodding, "Mind telling me a few tales of your time in Earthland? Natsu mentioned some awesome adventures."

Erza and Lucy looked at one another for a moment, chuckling.

"Sounds like fun," Lucy said.

"I would be glad to," Erza added.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Edo-Wendy sat a table by herself, reading a book, one she had found a few days ago and had started this day. She enjoyed the background noise the others provided, though occasionally it got to be too much. That was usually when Edo-Lucy would start shushing everyone, so it would get back to normal pretty quickly. The elder girl sighed, marking her place and putting the book down. She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts, whid had become too muddled for her to really enjoy the book.

That succubus really shouldn't have been as intriguing as she was. Edo-Wendy shuddered as she recalled murdering their Paizuri, just after the so-called succubus backstabbed Master Makarov. That was what led them into such chaos that they were, for a time, lambs to Knightwalker's wolf. Edo-Wendy made sure the assassin didn't enjoy her victory for very long. And now another person with the name, who even initially appeared like the assassin, had shown up, and she was out to seduce Edo-Wendy. The weirdest part was that her tactics were... working. Edo-Wendy became slowly more and more comfortable around the succubus.

She sighed, looking up, and heard the gentle laughter of her younger self, as she sat down in the chair across from Edo-Wendy. The older girl looked over towards her younger counterpart and Charle, who stood in the chair beside her.

"What's up?" Wendy asked.

"Just been reading. My usual thing after I finish lunch," Edo-Wendy replied.

"That's a good habit. Wendy, you ought to do that," Charle said, leaning on the table.

"I tried to borrow one of Erza's books once," Wendy said, "But she took it away from me before I got on the second page and told me not to go into her room."

"...That's probably a good thing, if Levy's babbling is accurate," Charle muttered.

"You do a lot of mean-spirited muttering," Edo-Wendy said, looking at the cat.

"Be nice," Wendy chided, looking at Charle.

Charle shrugged, before starting her meal. Edo-Wendy smirked, her thoughts drifting for a moment.

"What do you think of Zuri?" she asked, "Little Wendy. I already know your vehement stance on her, Charle."

Charle snorted, but Wendy simply giggled. Edo-Wendy tilted her head.

"Zuri is Zuri. She's a little disturbing at times, but she tries her best not to be. She's a great friend, and though I feel uncomfortable around her, knowing how she feels, she doesn't really... mean to remind me. She's practically Auntie Zuri to me."

"Until you hit puberty."

"She protects me from everything she can... I told her to stay under the umbrella with me, but she refused because I might get some water on me. She really cares for me, and though I don't really return her love like that... I do love her. Very, very much," Wendy said, continuing on through Charle's snide remark.

Edo-Wendy chuckled, "She's still after me."

"Not surprising," Charle said, with a shrug.

"Yeah," Wendy said, "Everyone tells me she's like that when not around me."

Edo-Wendy chuckled, "It's... flattering, though expected, given that she does this with everyone, I'm sure."

"She labelled you as her personal mission," Wendy said, shuddering, "But can we please talk about other things?"

"Please, let's. I get enough of Zuri when she's in the room," Charle said.

"Hey, when did you start wearing dresses that... um...?" Wendy asked, trailing off.

"That kinda look like I'm wanting people to look? Sixteen. I hit puberty at thirteen, but didn't _quite_ get this figure," Edo-Wendy said, waving her hands to indicate her chest, "Until fifteen-ish. By the way, if you have something to take care of it, deal with acne _early_. That was all kinds of annoying _and_ painful to the self-esteem. I tried a veil for a few months."

"A veil?" 

"Yeah, it's the one Charle found," Edo-Wendy said, chuckling.

"When did you dye your hair black?" Wendy asked, leaning forward, "I always liked it dark blue."

"Yeah. I went through a phase around fifteen where I did nothing _but_ dye my hair. It's been every color of the rainbow, in varying shades, and has been a couple of mixtures or patterns. Finally, though, I decided on black. I may go back and change it to the original color," Edo-Wendy said, thoughtfully tapping her bottom lip, "I'm kinda liking what you're able to do with it."

Charle's eyebrows twitched, "You disregarded natural coloring entirely?"

"I've heard all the arguments, and I don't really care," Edo-Wendy said, "You'll have to excuse me on that."

Charle blinked and Wendy grinned, "Wow, you're a lot more confident than me..."

"You'll get here, too. Eventually. Give it time and missions. Lots of missions," Edo-Wendy said, nodding sagely, "Also, being persuaded to sneak out and get piercings. That was our Gajeel's fault, though."

"...My word, I have to defend Wendy from Zuri _and_ Gajeel?" Charle asked, horror evident on her face. 

"Other Gajeel snuck you out to get piercings?" Wendy asked.

"Yeah. Since I didn't have a Charle, he sort of adopted me. He was... much nicer than yours. And much less full of himself. But he still liked piercings."

Wendy smiled, "That sounds cool. I bet Gajeel'd do that for me."

"I bet he won't," Charle said with a glare, "If he knows what's good for him."

"What would you do, little cat?" Gajeel asked, suddenly behind her.

"Sic Erza on you," Charle said, coolly.

Edo-Wendy blinked, tensing up for a moment, before sighing, shaking her head. Wendy laughed, as Gajeel shuddered a bit.

"Okay, okay, fair deal. Now, _why_ would you be arranging my death?"

"Oh, I was just telling them about your Edoras self. He was... an uncle to me, and snuck me out of the guild to get piercings. I kept the belly button one," Edo-Wendy said, shrugging.

"...If you weren't the alternate version of Wendy, I'd probably be drooling right now."

"Lalalala!" Wendy cried, her hands over her ears, "I can't hear you!" 

Gajeel laughed to himself, "Well, since I've gotten my kicks, I'm out."

The Iron Dragon Slayer continued walking towards the stairway, and out of the lower part of the guild.

"Crude, moronic, annoying beast," Charle muttered, once she knew he was out of earshot.

"He's not so bad," Wendy said, "Gajeel's actually kind of nice, sometimes. He just doesn't really like to show it. Zuri says he just acts tough to hide inner insecurities. She started to talk about parent problems, but I didn't really understand."

"How would she know anything about basic human psychology?" Charle asked.

"Being alive for about four hundred and fifty years would do it," Edo-Wendy said.

"Four hundred and fifty? She told me seven hundred and seventy seven," Wendy replied.

"She told you that, while telling Erza and Lucy a "couple hundred". I doubt she even knows her real age," Charle said.

"Well, she's definitely old, and she has not rejected human interaction," Edo-Wendy said, "Makes sense that she'd eventually figure out how most people work."

Charle rolled her eyes, but conceded the point. Wendy smiled as she ate a bit from her plate, before pushing it away and picking up her glass and drinking from it. Edo-Wendy looked at her with curiosity and a bit of glee. There was something to be said of the fact that her alternate self had a good future. There had been hardships in her own, but she still had the rest of her Fairy Tail. And there was hope now, for her younger counterpart and herself. That was enough for her, just then.

Other problems, like Zuri, could wait.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Edo-Levy sat by herself, having politely asked (and encouraged by womanly means) her team members to get her some food from the bar. She quietly waited, pondering her recent plight, concerning her team members. Both of them had their upsides and downsides, and both seemed to enjoy her company. Edo-Droy never openly said anything about it, but that was just how he was. Fast to the punch, slow to talk. Edo-Jet never directly said anything, but Zuri had done that for him. His innermost desires gave her a bit of hope. There may be a way... She nearly jolted out of her seat when the familiar succubus sat down in front of her.

"Hiya, other Levy," Zuri said, "Did you know your Earthland counterpart was an incredibly open lesbian?"

"You really _are_ here to disturb us, deeply," Edo-Levy said, tilting her head, her eyes wide.

"See, here's what I don't get," Zuri said, "I _told_ you all Jet wanted a threesome for a reason. I'm not stupid. I'm good at reading people, and after looking at your auras, I figured you three could manage to _try_ a polygamous relationship."

"Wh-what?" Edo-Levy asked, taken aback.

"Look, tell me how you feel about them, honestly," Paizuri said.

"...they both have their qualities about them. Droy is quiet when I need it. Jet can talk to. Droy will always be by my side, but Jet is willing to make me grow through personal trials. Jet snores at night, and Droy belches in public. I don't know what I'm supposed to do. I could never choose, but there's no way they'd go for it."

"You don't listen very well. One of them is perfectly fine with a _threesome_ of all things. Droy doesn't _care_. Dude is totally apathetic, but he loves you. And, let's face it, you dating both of them isn't going to be _that_ much different from you being a team with them. Choosing just one of them would be the bitch move," Zuri said.

Edo-Levy blinked, and Zuri started laughing to herself. When the other girl started to ask, Zuri just shook her head.

"Oh... just thinking of your other self... and her oddly specific requests," Zuri said, standing up, "Oh, and your future boyfriends are almost here, so I'm off to bug someone else."

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

The Edo-Shadow Gear gathered around Lucy, Edo-Lucy, and Erza, carefully, cautiously, clearly on edge. The three girls pretended not to notice them, as the Earthlanders regaled Edo-Lucy with tales from their missions.

"So, then, after Gajeel staked Jet and Droy to the tree," Erza said

"And clamped Levy. He had... a sensitive-ish side, slightly," Lucy added.

"Yeah, true. After that, Makarov threw caution to the winds. We marched on Phantom Lord with all our might and told them who were are," Erza said, nodding.

They continued to talk about the incident with Phantom Lord, then just rambling about Earthland in general and slowly, a larger crowd gathered around them. Edo-Cana blinked, hearing about her analytical drunken counterpart using cards and figuring out everything about the Shades in an instant. Edo-Macao chuckled, hearing about his purple flame ability, but bristled upon the knowledge that his Earthland self divorced his wife. Edo-Levy blinked when Lucy mentioned how she and Levy were practically best friends who hung out frequently. The Edoras counterparts of Jet and Droy stared, jaws wide open when Erza remarked about the Earthland versions being so laughably weak. Edo-Elfman, listening while polishing the floor, glad no one was paying attention to him, sighed in envy upon hearing about the Earthland Elfman being incredibly manly and strong.

This went on for perhaps a few hours, as more and more of the Edoras Fairy Tail joined in, asking questions and expressing amazement, before they shared their own stories about adventures and close escapes. The times they'd helped each other get away, though they held back information about deaths. Erza smiled to herself, feeling the gaze of everyone grow from hostile to friendly, regarding her without disdain.

She loved Fairy Tail, no matter its form. Being hated by them for things she didn't do...

Erza knew she wouldn't be able to forgive Knightwalker. Not for everything she'd done.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Knightwaker sat on the balcony's ledge, looking out over the kingdom. Hmph. All the fools out there, wanting eternal magic, without working for it. She deserved it, for having killed so many of those wretched Fairy Tail brats. There was no good reason Faust should really bother sharing it with these insignificant insects. The laws did not require this, and in fact required the Kingdom to use magic solely for its city's protection. Not for these fool's amusement. Eternal magic means there should be a way to achieve eternal life. Becoming an eternal power... That was something Erza Knightwalker liked the sound of. She chuckled to herself, darkly.

One of the guards walked in, "Lady Knightwalker. The King requires your presence, immediately."

A moment later, he fell back, a knife embedded in his forehead. Knightwalker growled.

"I've told them all before: knock," Knightwalker snapped.

She left the room, and made sure to inform one of the servants to pick up the body. Their job, not hers. If they would've reminded him to knock, they wouldn't have to get their hands dirty. Very simple.

Knightwalker stood before the king, listening to him rant and rave about how the Fairy Tail guild must be stopped, how Pantherlily failed him, so they were to work together on this. '_Never,_' the warrior thought. Fairy Tail was the source of her infinite amusement. It was her prey, not Pantherlily's, not anyone else's. Hughes made the mistake of beating down one of them, and he never came back from the mission, officially killed by one of the Fairy Tail guild members. Knightwalker told him her rule. Rules must be followed. When they are broken, punishment must follow.

The King was breaking the rules, but Edo-Erza knew killing the King outright was against the rules. All those who did so ultimately wound up dead. _However_, Faust had come into power through murdering the old King, behind the scenes, using Byro's special skill with poisons. Faust immediately set up the old poison-master for execution, though Byro tried to convince his executioner, _her_, that he did it on Faust's orders. Knightwalker wasn't able to confirm it until a year later. By then, Faust was lawfully the King, and he was ordering Erza Knightwalker to kill others. If he had come into power through murder, then so could she.

Knightwalker grinned, just as Faust's speech ended. King Faust grinned back, raising both eyebrows, his eyes wild. He didn't know his homicidal Fairy Hunter would soon turn regicidal.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Pantherlily kneeled, pointing his sword towards the setting sun, murmuring a slow mantra to draw in victory over his enemies. The Exceed were upon them, already. They would attack, soon. Pantherlily would be ready. He finished his silent prayer, then stood up, preparing to meet with Knightwaker. It would be unpleasant, but the end result was what counted. God's Island may fall, but a new age will rise in its place. Pantherlily would ensure that much.

He grinned to himself. It all started with saving Faust's kid.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Edo-Ichiya landed in front of the large, plant-like Fairy Tail building, his arms crossed. A moment later, Edo-Lucy, and the Edoras Shadow Gear stepped out.

"We're ready," Edo-Lucy said, "Ichiya."

"Nah, go ahead and call me Edo-Ichiya."

"...Why? We're from Edoras."

"Edo-Ichiya sounds cool. So do it. Also, get back in the guild home. The Doc made a brand new invention a couple days ago to bring your guild up to the island."

Edo-Lucy nodded, and everyone rushed back in. Edo-Ichiya clapped his hands three times, then flew straight up. A moment later, a blue beam descended from the sky, hitting the guild building and slowly whisking it away. It was similar to the teleport Magic, as Levy herself noticed, but there were too many differences for it to simply be a slightly altered version of what she used. She didn't have time to contemplate it, however, as they reformed on the island in far less time than it ever took their teleport spells. It was... strange. The Edoras Fairy Tailers began to step out to see... cats. There were, perhaps, fifty of them outside their guild.

"I hope no one's ailurophobic," Edo-Levy said.

"Oh my," Edo-Natsu said.

"Well, this is going to be interesting," Erza said.

"Charle! Lookit! It's your family!" Wendy shouted.

"Yeah, Happy, your mom and pop are probably out there," Natsu said, grinning.

Charle and Happy looked... scared, yet excited, at the prospect of meeting family who they'd never known... The rest of Fairy Tail swarmed out, with Gajeel in the lead.

"SHAGGY! How ya been? Do ya miss me?" Gajeel shouted, grinning.

"SHAGOTTE! SHAGOTTE, SHAGOTTE, SHAGOTTE!" Edo-Ichiya screamed in fury.

Queen Shagotte smiled at them, "It's nice to see you all. And do calm down, Ichiya... err... Edo-Ichiya. Anyways, follow me. There's planning to do. The Doctor has a wonderful array of inventions, lined up just for you."

"The Doctor?" Natsu asked, as they approached the large building.

"Yes, though he actually prefers being called "The Doc"... He's a wonderfully eccentric man," Queen Shagotte said, chuckling to herself.

"He's a nutcase," Edo-Ichiya muttered.

"Dude-man's crazy-insane," Gajeel said, cackling, "But he's got all kinds of kick-ass stuff."

"What's his name?" Lucy asked.

Queen Shagotte chuckled, as Edo-Ichiya opened the door, "He likes to introduce himself."

Everyone stared at the man, with his long, sweeping silver coat with its many glitterng LachryJewels. His familiar face, however, though with hair a little grayer, perhaps. The glasses were a bit crooked, as always, and there was the strange addition of a large bolt going through his head. Despite the different wardrobe, everyone from Earthland instantly recognized him.

"GREETINGS, ALLIES! I AM THE FANTASTICALLY AMAZING DOCTOR TERASU!"

**End of Chapter Three**


	4. Zuri's Best Day Ever

**Chapter Four: Zuri's Best Day Ever**

**Last chapter was exactly 9001 words. You don't know how happy that makes me. Also, to hell with Mashima. Edo-Lisanna is Edo-Lisanna. **_**To hell with Mashima. Why the fuck didn't Mirajane and Elfman MENTION or NOTICE that Lisanna apparently ascended into fucking HEAVEN, as opposed to getting SMASHED INTO ITTY BITTY PIECES AND THEN PUT IN THE GROUND, LIKE WE THOUGHT.**_

**Ahem. Anyways. **

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

"GREETINGS, ALLIES! I AM THE FANTASTICALLY AMAZING DOCTOR TERASU!"

"KILL HIM!" Natsu roared, rushing towards Edo-Terasu, fists raised.

"WOAH NELLY!"

Edo-Terasu ducked under Natsu's punch, then slammed him in the forehead with an open palm. Natsu toppled back and felt his back hit the floor. He started scrambling to get up, when a foot slammed on his back, shoving him back down.

"Gonna be nice? If you can't play niiiiice, you don't get to play at all!" Edo-Terasu declared, looking down at Natsu, waving one finger 'no'.

"Um... what?"

"Natsu, stand down. You attacking their Terasu is no different than the others attacking me," Erza ordered.

"Oh... right. Reflex," Natsu grumbled, trying to get up.

"Can ya play nice?"

"...Yes."

"Okay!" Edo-Terasu declared, grinning from ear to ear, as he stepped back.

Natsu crawled back a bit before getting to his feet. He looked over to Lucy, whose face had darkened, but the girl had otherwise remained silent. The rest of Edo-Tail was just sort of staring at him, utterly confused. Queen Shagotte smiled, highly amused. As for Edo-Terasu, he was watching everyone for a few moments, before he apparently grew bored and began fiddling with the bolt in his head as he walked over to his work-table.

"This is the Doctor," Queen Shagotte said, "He's quite amazing."

"Just the Doc, kitten," Edo-Terasu grumbled, as he began rapidly assembling an odd work of machinery.

Shagotte didn't seem to notice the doctor's annoyane, only chuckling lightly, before she turned to the others, "Well, I'm sure some of you may want to understand the Doctor a bit better." 

"THE. DOC. I LIKE IT SIMPLE."

Queen Shagotte glanced at him, highly amused, before continuing on, "But I understand if you don't. Gajeel has informed me of many of your Terasu's activities. And how he single-handedly thwarted them all. I think I started tuning him out shortly after that declaration."

There was a light growl, before Gajeel grumbled, "That was a totally kick-ass story, though..."

"In this tale of yours, how many women did you score?" Lucy asked, in a deadpan.

"All of-... Shut up."

"Happy, Charle, come with me, please," Queen Shagotte said, walking through one of the three doors in the room, holding it open for a moment, "There are a few things we must discuss."

The Earthland-raised Exceed looked to their partners, who just indicated for them to follow the Queen. The cats rushed off, to do so. Meanwhile, the various members of Edo-Tail and Fairy Tail began to scatter about, leaving, eventually, only Wendy, Paizuri, and Edo-Terasu in the room.

"Nowhere to go?" Edo-Terasu asked, not looking up.

"What's with that bolt?" Wendy asked, "It's scary." 

"Oh, this thing? It was a science project..."

"Gone horribly wrong?" Paizuri offered, when the doctor seemed to have trailed off.

"Nah, horribly _right_. Do you know how kick-ass it is to pretty much scare off everyone in the room by offering everyone the chance to touch it?"

"...I see," Zuri said, calmly.

"Also, check it," Edo-Terasu said, as he began to rotate the giant bolt with a rhythmic clanking noise.

"Ummm... Zuri... I'm scared," Wendy whispered.

The succubus patted her on the back, and quickly pulled her to leave the room. Edo-Terasu grinned, spinning in his chair, just to observe the entirely empty room. He steepled his fingers and looked around, grinning.

"Just as planned. NOW! To construct something incredibly silly, like something that pumps radiation into food to make it cook faster!"

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Charle and Happy walked along after Shagotte. Their queen had taken to hovering along, though they noticed one of her wings was missing. Neither dared to comment, but couldn't help but glance at it. They moved along down the hall for a while, in silence. Finally, it was apparent Happy had grown bored with this.

"Um... Your Highness?"

"Just call me Shagotte. Queen if you simply must," she replied, obviously amused, yet a bit exasperated.

"Well, Shagotte... what is it you wanted to talk about?" Happy asked, his eyes glancing to her missing wing again.

Queen Shagotte watched him, amused, "Curious about it?"

"About what?"

"My missing wing."

"Umm..."

"I wasn't aware that... that Aera magic could be broken like that," Charle said, concern in her voice.

"You're wondering if yours has been broken, as mine has? No, you don't have to worry about that," Shagotte said, "You likely just overexerted yourself. Your Aera will be back soon. Mine can't recover."

"Why?" Happy asked, tilting his head.

"Faust," Shagotte said, looking off to the side, "It all comes down to him, I'm afraid. It was when he ordered us to get rid of Dragon Slayers. They were... unique, in that their innate magic worked away at ours, even from Earthland. His idea was to simply kill all Dragon Slayers. We, naturally, decided it would be best to save them... So we changed the orders implemented in the many children we sent. Regrettably, Faust walked in during the experiment. We had to do a massive wipe, then change a couple to his order as he viewed them. Most we left wiped, hoping they would make it in some way. Some we managed to give the proper order, too. I fear two or three still live in Earthland, believing they must kill a Dragon Slayer..."

"Oh my," Charle muttered, a paw flying to her mouth.

Shagotte sighed, "I had to sacrifice part of my Aera in order to work the magic necessary to access Earthland from here, so that we could fix as many of the agents as possible. Even then, as you know, it wasn't enough... But it was all I could do."

"And you can't get it back?" Happy asked, his eyes wide.

"Not yet. Possibly not ever. The good doctor is working on it."

Happy and Charle looked at one another, their thoughts clearly focused on a similar doctor with ill intentions. Shagotte chuckled.

"Don't worry, he's on our side, completely."

"Our Terasu tricked us once," Happy said.

"So, how can you trust this one?"

"Very simply," Shagotte said, "Faust killed Terasu's wife. He won't stop until Faust is dead."

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

In a pool hall area, Natsu, Gray, Erza, and Lucy stood. Edo-Nab and a few others actually tested out the tables, playing for the fun of it. The supposed "Fairy Tail's Strongest Team" congregated near a corner.

"Allying ourselves with any sort of Terasu sounds like a bad idea," Erza said, crossing her arms.

Lucy nodded, looking off to the side, quite clearly distressed by the idea of it. Natsu and Gray had their arms crossed, looking down and to opposite sides.

"I don't like it one bit," Gray growled, "But like hell if we got a choice."

Natsu grimaced, "That's the worst part about it. Gotta go with this bastard completely against our will. It's bullshit."

"We can subdue him, undoubtedly, if it comes to that," Erza said, sternly.

"If Natsu's anything to show for it, this geezer's tougher," Gray said.

Natsu snarled, and internally bemoaned the inability to blow fire from his nostrils, like in the good old Earthland days. Instead, he had to settle for plain old annoyance.

"This Terasu... All of our counterparts. They've all proven to be similar to us. Edo-Ichiya was just as vain, even if a cat," Erza noted.

"So this bastard's probably faking it to trip us up again! HE'S GONNA PAY!" Natsu roared.

"...Natsu, chill," Gray said, "We can't do anything about him. The Queen trusts him, and like hell if he's doing anything evil right now. We kicked his ass in Earthland, so we can totally kick his ass here."

Natsu, after a moment, nodded sagely, "Indeed."

"...I'm going to be watching him constantly," Lucy said, quietly, "And if he so much as _fucking moves wrong_, I will kill him."

Erza, Natsu, and Gray all stared at Lucy, held in place for a moment by her sheer killing intent. The cold fury in her eyes disturbed Erza, but not as much as it did Natsu or Gray.

"Lucy...?"

Lucy stood up sharply, "I'm going up to my bedroom. Not in a good mood."

She departed, abruptly, and everyone watched her go, quietly.

"...Erza, go do whatever it is you do to make her overly happy," Natsu said, quietly.

"Shut it, Natsu," Gray snapped, "You gotta be sensitive about these matters."

"D'awwwwwww, but I can't do sensitive," Natsu said, "I'm only good at massive amounts of force!"

"Even in conversation?" Gray asked.

"Especially in conversation."

"...I'm not sure I am in the mood to talk any longer, myself," Erza said, quietly.

"YAY! Go make Lucy happy!"

A moment later, Natsu was sent flying across the room with a backhand. Gray gulped and ducked out of sight. Erza walked on out, without a glance back, worried for her dearest.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Happy stood out on a balcony railing, with Charle sitting on the floor. Shagotte had led them out here to relax for the time being, and both eagerly seized the chance to think and talk amongst themselves.

"So, my mission was just a screw-up," Charle said, sighing in relief, "It was all a lie."

"...there are worse things they could've done," Happy said, quietly.

"They made my entire life into something twisted, made me hate myself for being Wendy's friend and not being able to kill her. I can never forgive that dreadful woman."

"So, if you had the mission to kill Wendy, why did you stop yourself?" Happy asked.

"...whenever I thought about it, truly thought about it... I would see myself and Wendy, fighting side by side, or laughing and playing. It confused me, but I just felt like I had to pursue her, stay by her side..."

Happy leaped off of the railing and floated down next to Charle. He gently pulled her into a hug.

"I'm so stupid," Charle said, quietly.

"Nah, that's my job."

"I didn't even realize the mission was a mistake. I thought I was doomed to be alone, and I didn't even realize I had a perfectly good friend around."

"Yeah, Wendy's nice," Happy said.

"Not her, stupid."

"Eh? Then who?" Happy asked, feeling a flicker of jealousy flare up within himself.

"You, stupid," Charle said, laughing and shaking her head.

Happy blinked, for a moment, then grinned, nodding.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Edo-Terasu clicked his bolt a few times, then brushed the counter, sending a smattering of objects to the floor. He groaned, massaging his temples for a moment, before letting out a cackle.

"Yes... I can feel it... battle's coming up. Of course I can't focus on something stupid... It has to be the project..."

Edo-Terasu snarled and reached into a drawer, from where he pulled out a set of blueprints. Various objects were designed before him, with gratuitous amounts of labelling, so much so that even someone as scientifically underdeveloped as the average commoner might have been able to put it together, given enough focus. He grinned and started digging around in the pile of technology.

"That bastard Faust... he thinks he's so damn smug with that beast of his... I'll crush it with him inside," Edo-Terasu cackled, his glasses and bolt glinting.

He snapped together pieces, screwed in other pieces, and laughed the whole way as his creation became ever-larger.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Gajeel sat across the table from Edo-Wendy, tilting his head. Edo-Wendy sipped at a cup of tea for a moment, looking at him.

"...damn is it weird to look at you," Gajeel said, blinking.

"Right back at ya. Edo-you is kinda dead."

"...I better have died after having scored with every hot chick in Edo-Magnolia."

"...He died fighting off four Legion, Knightwalker, Pantherlily, and Sugarboy. He killed three of the Legion and broke Erza's spear so severely it's never been at full power since."

Gajeel tapped his chin for a moment, "I accept this. How was he? Manly? Awesome?"

"Very manly," Edo-Wendy said, tapping her silver-studded ear, "He did these himself."

Gajeel grinned, "I like him."

Edo-Wendy chuckled, smiling, "Yeah. He was Uncle Gajeel, to me."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Looked out for me. Made sure I got in some trouble. But not too much. Ya know. An awesome guy."

The door opened, and Wendy and Paizuri entered the room. Edo-Wendy stood up and looked towards Paizuri.

"Something I gotta talk to you about, Zuri," the older-looking girl said, "Wendy, hang here with Gajeel, please?"

"Sure!" the younger declared, giving a mock-salute, before giggling.

Zuri and Edo-Wendy left the dining area, and the two Dragon Slayers looked at one another for a moment.

"Gajeel, can you pierce my ear?" Wendy asked.

"Do you want it just to look cool?"

"Kinda."

"Are you ready for the pain?"

"Totally!"

"Will it piss off Charle?" Gajeel asked.

"Probably," Wendy said, shrugging.

"Awesome, we'll do it when we're back in Earthland," Gajeel said, giving a thumbs-up.

"Yay! Also, do you know any cool clubs?"

"...not until you're fifteen. The age I started going to clubs."

"But!"

"No. Zuri's damaged your mind enough as it is, I ain't pulling you anywhere like that, got it, kiddo?"

"Awwww..."

"...We took to this very quickly."

"Can I call you Unca?" Wendy asked, looking up at Gajeel, her hands clasped, her eyes shimmering.

Gajeel stared for a few moments, blinking. A few beads of sweat formed as he attempted to resist, before he finally broke a smile.

"Sure, kiddo."

"YAY! I get presents!" Wendy cheered.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Zuri recognized, after a moment, that she was in Edo-Wendy's room. She blinked and turned around to see Edo-Wendy grinning at her.

"Um, Edo-Wendy?" Zuri asked, tilting her head.

"Yeah, I wanted... I just wanted some alone time with you. To get everything together, you know?"

"All of what?"

Edo-Wendy sighed and gently brushed her hair to the side. She reached behind her back, then unsnapped two buttons. Her dress fell to the floor, and Zuri froze in place.

"The fact that I want my first time to be with a succubus, the alternate of which I killed. Took some time to get used to."

"So, wait, you're asking me to sleep with you?"

"Yes."

"Best. Day. Ever."

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Erza shut the door behind her just in time for Lucy to toss a plate at the wall, with a resounding crash. Erza stopped, shocked, just as Lucy punched a wall, not flinching at the pain. She slammed it again, totally silent, before headbutting it. She let out a shuddering yell, and Erza could hear the half-gasp, half-choke. Lucy whirled around, letting out a choked-off yell, her teeth gritted, and Erza saw tears streaming from her eyes. The Knight rushed to hold her beloved, but Lucy shoved her away.

"Goddammit, Erza, he shouldn't exist! HE SHOULDN'T FUCKING EXIST!" Lucy screamed.

Erza Scarlet, her hands at her side, thought back to every situation she had ever been in.

"HE SHOULDN'T! IT'S NOT... it's not... _right_. Not _fair_. Why is HIS counterpart alive an-and... Gajeel, Makarov... Why is half of Edoras' Fairy Tail _dead_ and that BASTARD _ALIVE_?" Lucy shrieked, her hands clasped, her eyes slammed shut, the tears flowing all the more.

Erza Scarlet, her eyes closed tight, thought back to every victory she had achieved, to every deed she had accomplished.

"God... goddammit, Erza... Why...?" Lucy groaned, falling to her knees, her whole body shaking.

Erza Scarlet, on her knees as well, realized she had no idea what to do.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Edo-Levy lay sprawled out on her bed, the other members of her team sitting on opposite sides of the room. An uneasy silence filled the space. The girl sighed, then sat up. Edo-Droy and Edo-Jet glanced over at her, blinking, a bit concerned. She had been like this all day. Untalkative, almost depressed seeming. It concerned the two, deeply.

"Levy...?" Edo-Jet asked, calmly,

"Hm?"

"Are you okay?" Edo-Jet asked, tilting his head, "You've been way depressed lately..."

Edo-Levy sat up and pulled her knees into her chest. She gently bit her nails, shutting her eyes. Edo-Droy was beside her in the blink of an eye, one hand on her shoulder. Edo-Jet stood up, sharply, and looked at them both. He sat down on the bed, a small smile on his face. Edo-Droy had a neutral expression, but some exhuded a comforting air.

"It's... Well, I've been thinking about us," Edo-Levy said, quietly.

"What about us?" Edo-Droy asked, very quietly.

"Well, it's... ugh...," Edo-Levy said with a groan, before slapping her palm to her forehead, "I... both of you..."

"What is it, Levy?"

Edo-Droy gently rubbed her back as he asked. Edo-Jet watched her, cautious of her current state.

"...it's just that, ya know, something Zuri said."

Edo-Jet blushed and looked to the side, grumbling something like "not true...", while Edo-Droy looked generally uncomfortable.

"No, not that... well, that, too. It's just that, ya know, she brought up some good points. Including the fact that... _Ilovebothofyou_," Edo-Levy said, the last bit in a rush.

She was half curled-up, her eyes slammed shut. The silence ruled the roost, ramping the tension until Edo-Levy couldn't take it; she opened her eyes, just a bit, to see her team members staring at her, unblinking.

"You..."

"Both of us...?"

"...eep."

The men of Edo-Shadow Gear looked at one another and Edo-Levy buried her head in her knees, shaking in anticipation of the inevitable "we can't accept this", the "you disgust me for not being able to choose". She was so surprised, then, when two pairs of arms encircled her, tight. She blinked, then blushed when two pairs of lips brushed against her temple. There was a pause, and then...

"We love you, too, Levy," Jet and Droy said.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Edo-Natsu sat in what seemed to be a living room, tapping his chin. He grumbled to himself, as he thought of new ways to impress Edo-Lucy. Maybe Earthland's Lucy was right, in talking about playing hard-to-get. Maybe that was all there was to it. Yeah!

_"Lucy... I umm... I like you."_

_"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT!"_

_Edo-Lucy set upon Edo-Natsu with her whip, viciously beating him and crying out "HOW DARE YOU!", until..._

Edo-Natsu fell out of his chair, twitching, "Oh god, no, I'm sorry!"

"What are you sorry for? You haven't done anything yet, have you?" a voice asked, tauntingly.

Edo-Natsu, shaking, looked up to confirm the owner of the voice was... _yep_. She was also, he found out, wearing very sexy lingerie. Edo-Natsu fell back, covering a noseblood, his face beat-red. Edo-Lucy put one hand on her hip, arching a brow.

"What?"

"I s-saw... s-saw..."

"Did you see this...?" Edo-Lucy asked, her demeanor surprisingly calm, tapping her forehead.

Specifically, she was tapping on the pair of goggles Edo-Natsu had managed to give her. Dragion stared for a moment, then broke out in an enormous grin. Edo-Lucy gave a little smile, and then, in a flash, she was upon him. She locked his head under her arm and viciously noogied him.

"THIS IS FOR LOOKING UP MY SKIRT!" Edo-Lucy shouted, angrily, "I HOPE YOU ENJOYED IT!"

"I'm ! Forgive me, Lucy!"

Edo-Lucy let go of him after a moment, then looked incredibly nervous.

"...eh? That... those usually last longer..."

"I thought of an alternative punishment."

"...oh... meep."

"Go on a date with me," Edo-Lucy blurted out.

"WHAT? NO! ANYTHING BUT- ...wait. A d-date...?" Edo-Natsu said, covering his face at first, then peering out at the girl.

"Yes, bonehead, a date, wanna make something of it?" Edo-Lucy said, shaking her fist at him.

"N-No, ma'am!"

"That's right. Meet me after all this is over, okay?"

"Okay!" Edo-Natsu said, giving a salute.

Edo-Lucy promptly walked off, grinning from ear to ear, an exact mirror of Edo-Natsu's expression.

_**-FAIRY TAIRU-**_

At the bar, Gray busily drank from his mug. The bartender set a pitcher down in front of him. After a few moments, Gray set down his empty mug, before pouring another drink for himself. He sat for a few moments, shaking his head.

"Hey, maybe you shouldn't do that, you know... You don't want to get drunk before the mission," Edo-Gray said, sitting down.

"Nah, I'm good. Takes way more than this to get me slammed. I once got in a drinking contest. Gildartz won, but only by ten mugs..."

"Gildartz...? What's he like?"

"Natsu breaks buildings on his own. Gildartz _accidentally_ knocked Natsu into the ceiling. For comparison."

"...woah."

"How about your Gildartz?"

"He was... well, he was actually the weakest member. But he got his hands on this way powerful magic item, the Crash Blade. It exploded when he used it, killing about thirty soldiers... and he half-killed one of the captains. Took out Knightwalker for a few days."

"...damn."

"Yeah... Gildartz was a great guy. Miss him."

"I understand, man," Gray said, holding out his mug.

Edo-Gray took it, gratefully, "So, why are you drinking like this?"

"My entire family's trapped in a crystal and we have about a day to save them. Or they die. Also, they're in the hands of a crazy-ass king who may have done something to kill them. Also, this world is screwed up so that I can't use my normal magic, Terasu is walking about, Erza's evil, and half of this Fairy Tail is dead. So, uh, yeah, I really want a drink. To take the edge off."

"Gotcha," Edo-Gray said, before chugging down the mug.

"Two Grays. This is quite the odd sight for Juvia," Edo-Juvia said, sitting down beside Edo-Gray.

"Hello, Juvia!" Edo-Gray declared, holding out his mug, "Want some?"

Juvia gently tapped the rim of the glass and pushed it away, smirking, "No, thank you, Gray."

"Hey, Juv," Gray said, taking his mug back and drinking deeply from it.

"Hello, other Gray. Are you having a fine day?"

Gray nodded, not stopping to speak, just continuing to chug. Finally, the mug emptied and he slammed it down, before pouring another glass.

"Juvia thinks you should not drink so much, other Gray."

Gray swivelled in his seat, looking towards Juvia, his eyes a little glassy, "Looky, I am totally capable of knowin' my own damn limits."

"Don't speak that way to Juvia! She is wonderful!"

"Ah, shut it, doofus, and take off those clothes. I'm _sweltering_ just looking at you..."

"How _can_ you be, you're only wearing boxers, Juvia wonders?"

"...huh, so I am. Whoops."

Gray looked around for a moment, "Oh, right, no Erza."

"Sir, put on some pants," the bartender said, his eye twitching.

"Ah, damn it, you ruined my fun."

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Edo-Terasu and Shagotte stood on a platform together, the Queen also on a large throne which mostly equalled out their height. The crazy doctor carefully drilled a thick, cylindrical piece of metal through the side of his wrist. Shagotte watched him, blinking. Edo-Terasu hummed some odd showtune, not twinging, then letting out an "aha!" as he slid it all the way through. After a moment, he slid two pieces of metal onto the small rod to secure it. He repeated the procedure on his right wrist.

"Doesn't that hurt?" Shagotte asked.

"Did I ever tell you about my God Complex?" Edo-Terasu asked, twisting the bolt in his head one click.

"Well, I'm certain you have mentioned your intentions for world domination in your sleep."

"Oh damn, my plans are all ruined now that you know. I suppose you've found my eleven doom machines?"

"Hrm... wait, no, we've only found ten."

"You should look in the pudding."

"Ah, I see," Shagotte said, laughing.

A few moments later, Edo-Ichiya came in, leading in a stream of Exceed, Edo-Fairy Tailers, and Earthland-Fairy Tailers. Happy and Charle sat on their Dragon Slayer's shoulders. Shagotte looked out over the group, chuckling.

"Here is the plan, everyone," Shagotte said.

"We're going to fuck up their day. And it shall be wonderful."

"Well, yes, but to elaborate, Doctor..."

"_The Doc_."

"To elaborate, we'll be setting off a detonation right outside the Capital. This will draw out the army, en masse, ensuring that most of them are away from the castle. This will likely take fifteen minutes, but that will give everyone enough time to adjust to the new invention."

Edo-Terasu held up a pair of glasses, grinning, "These little dandies make the dark into daylight. But only for you. They're kind of beast, because I made them. They can probably also tell time and access a connected network of systems that I'm getting around to inventing."

"Very nice, Doctor."

"Where's a dog? There's not enough dogs in this world. I need one."

"So, after the army comes running, our Fairy Tail will engage them wearing the glasses to gain the advantage, given that night is falling fast. Earthland Fairy Tailers, you will infiltrate the base with Terasu's specialized equipment."

"After figuring out just what the hell you guys did, I made armour to simulate it or something. Not exact or anything, but hey, what is? You'll get over it."

"...Eh?" Gray asked.

"I had to scrap a refrigerator for your stupid suit, so be grateful, and put a damn shirt on."

"Oi."

"How do we know where to go?" Lucy asked, "I mean, this is a big castle."

"And what's our objective?" Erza asked.

"The capture of King Faust, Erza Knightwalker, and Sugarboy."

"Execution allowed?" Erza asked.

"If necessary," Shagotte said.

"Kill the _crap_ out of Knightwalker," Edo-Terasu said, nodding, "Cuz I'm sure she has a grudge against me still for that whole not dying thing a few years back."

"Oh dear," Lucy said.

"As for the maps," Shagotte said, pulling out a roll, "These were provided by our top-level informant."

"Alright," Erza said, taking the roll, "We'll devise our own infiltration plan amongst ourselves. When does the detonation occur?"

"One hour, Miss Scarlet. You have until then to get everything sorted out."

"Oh, you bastards need to check out the magic I made. So that ya got an idea of how it works."

Gajeel shrugged, "I've been training with this for a couple days. Pretty easy."

"I've got something from Mystogan," Wendy said, holding up her glove.

"Oh holy shit that's awesome, I haven't seen one of those things in _ages_!" Edo-Terasu said, kneeling in front of Wendy, carefully examining the glove, "Oh _damn_, I've wanted one of these."

"You know what it does?"

"No idea, but I know it's rare, expensive, and magic. That's really all the qualifiers I need."

"...hey, where's Zuri?" Gajeel asked, "I suddenly realized I've not been distracted."

"...where's Edo-Wendy?" Edo-Levy asked.

"...oh goddammit, no," Lucy said, facepalming, "She won't be able to shut up after this."

"Ewwwwwwwwwwwww," Wendy gagged.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Mystogan waited on the edge of the Capital, beside a large Exceed, known as Pantherlily.

"They have the maps," Pantherlily said, "They shall infiltrate, soon. Should we do anything?"

"No. You need to maintain your cover."

"And you?"

"I want to surprise dear old dad. Maybe he'll have a heart attack."

Pantherlily grinned, "I see."

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Sugarboy stood before the king, his arms crossed, his face the perpetual grin.

"What do you want, Sugarboy?" Faust demanded, "And where is Knightwalker?"

"Knightwalker is in her room, either cleaning her spear or smearing it with blood. Never know with that one. Got a replacement maid, by the way?"

"...hmmm... I'm sure we can find someone. Maybe. What is your business?"

"I've found out, based on very reliable information, that invasion is impending. I think it'd be necessary to implement the defenses."

The king looked down at his general, blinking, "...Invasion? From who?"

"I'm unsure at this time, but I know the Capital is in danger. Please sire, and swiftly. You must go unharmed."

"...fine, then, activate the defenses."

Sugarboy whirled about and walked on up to the defense control room.

_'Of course I can't tell the King about it being the Exceed. He wouldn't believe me, for he didn't see God's Island moving as it did. Stopped for a day over a suspicious location, say the reports, then moved right for the Capital. Hmph. They dare to move against Edoras.'_

**End of Chapter Four**

Omakes continue!

_**-OMAKE: Gildartz, part the second-**_

Natsu sat in front of the pond, sighing, his line cast. Happy danced about behind him, even though they'd caught nothing all day, when suddenly... fish bobbed up to the surface, their bodies severely wrecked and bleeding, utterly destroyed. Natsu gagged at the smell, then felt an enormous tug at his line.

"Woah! YEAH!" Natsu shouted, pulling the line with all his might.

Happy leaped forward, gripping the pole, and the duo pulled and pulled, until finally...

"HAW, YOUR GIRLFRIEND'S DEAD!" Gildartz shouted, flying out of the lake.

_**-OMAKE: Zombologizing-**_

In an alternate Fairy Tail-verse, Mirajane and Elfman bent before the grave of their beloved sister, taken from the world before her time. The rain poured upon them, reflecting their inner sorrow. Elfman bent his head, silently crying, never having quite gotten over how responsible he felt for her death.

"He-hello...?" a voice cried out, through the rain.

It rang in their ears like the most wonderful of symphonies, for a moment, and then for one, it became terror. Lisanna, returned from Edoras, approached them slowly. Elfman stared, in horror, then rushed forward.

"OH FUCK, ZOMBIE!"

_SLAM._

"Oh god, Mirajane, I'm so sorry!"

"Mira, why are you zombologizing! This is a fucking zombie! WE BURIED HER! ZOMBIE!"


	5. The Break In and the Build Up

**Chapter Five: The Break-In and the Build-Up**

**Okay. NOW we can get on with the plot. Had to screw around for a couple of chapters. Zuri's present, so it was only natural.**

**Also, I lost over half the chapter due to weird saving things. So, uh, re-writing them was annoying as hell and any sloppiness or incoherence comes ragequittery.**

**Finally, this chapter was getting **_**really**_** unwieldy. Over 10,000 would've been inevitable. Hell, possibly 11,000. **

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

The guards of the Capital Castle stood at attention, their spears held at the ready. A beautiful woman, one so exquisitely exotic that neither had seen anyone remotely like her, approached them, her hips swinging hypnotically as she walked. She swept out her hair, looking at them for a moment, and only several years of training and a deeply ingrained fear of Knightwalker and Faust kept the guards from abandoning position right then. The amazing woman walked up to them and looked down, clasping her hands together, not-so-subtly pressing other assets together, emphasizing them.

"I... I need to see someone," the woman said, meekly, her eyes pleading, "It's v-very important to me."

Given that their brains weren't at full capacity, the guards nodded, hurriedly.

"Y-yes. Of course."

"Oh... thank you...," the woman said.

One of the guards nearly went weak-kneed at her voice. The other, with just a little more dignity, whirled around and flipped the switch. The gate opened in a moment and the beautiful woman walked on through.

"I won't forget your kindness!" she called out behind her, just as the gate began to close again, the guards staring at her.

The guards returned to position, silent for a moment.

"You know something, Jerry?"

"Yes, Linda?"

"I think I'm a lesbian, now."

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Thirty minutes after Linda rediscovered her sexuality, something utterly horrifying happened. The sun was blocked out by the Roaming God's Island, the strangest of the five God's Islands, and from it descended hell. A flurry of strange missiles flew down towards the front of the castle, and each landed with an explosive impact, but no actual fiery explosion. A moment later, familiar entities broke out of the pseudo-missiles, each one grinning.

"It's the damn Fairy Tail guild!" Linda shouted, rushing forward, her spear in hand.

"SOLDIERS!" Jerry shouted, punching a large button, "CALLING ALL SOLDIERS!"

Edo-Gray tossed a disc up in the air, caught it, spun around to give it more momentum, and then tossed it straight at Linda. The guard smacked the projectile through the air with her spear, ducked down and charged ever swifter, nearly knocking into Edo-Gray if it weren't for Edo-Jet appearing in front of Linda in a blitz of motion and delivering a swift kick. Edo-Jet brought his leg back down, and his boots, both seeming to be powered by a sort of engine, hissed and steamed. He smirked, seeing the female guard fly through the air.

"Punk," Edo-Jet said.

Edo-Gray pulled out another disc and readied it, just as Edo-Juvia spun about her umbrella, before popping it open. The mages rushed forward into the army, raging as they attacked.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Lucy led the group through the halls of the castle, attempting to sneak as best as she could. She kept her back against a wall at all times, and her comrades imitated her. Mostly. Natsu wrapped his scarf around the lower part of his face and Happy pulled his tail around his own.

"Nin-nin!" Natsu whispered.

"Nin-nin!" Happy shouted.

"Shush! You gotta whisper it!"

Erza smacked both of them over their heads, "Shut up."

"Nin-nin? What are you, four?" Gajeel asked.

"Shut up, Mr. Shooby Doo Bop!" Natsu retorted, pointing angrily at Gajeel.

"Shooby doo bop is an expression of pure awesome."

"Both of you be quiet before someone hears us," Gray snapped.

Lucy looked up the hallway, then towards the wall on her left and blinked, before glancing down at the map. She looked up at the wall, back down the corridor they just "snuck" through, then over to the hallway, then back at the wall. Her frown became more and more pronounced.

"Uh... guys?" Lucy asked, "The... the map is wrong."

"We were betrayed," Erza hissed.

"I'm going to punch that cat in the _face_," Gajeel said.

"There's no way Pantherlily betrayed the Exceed," Charle snapped.

"Hey, no problem. The throne room is always in the center of the bottom floor! Faust'll definitely be there! COME ON, HAPPY!" Natsu roared.

"AYE, SIR!"

Happy clung to Natsu's neck as the Dragon Slayer activated the rocket gauntlets and began rushing through the castle walls. Gray and Erza made to grab for him, but only ended up bumping into one another. Gajeel cackled.

"Idiot! The center of the castle isn't that way. IT'S THIS WAY!" Gajeel shouted, as he began breaking through castle walls, "SHOOBY DOO BOPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!"

"...so, what now?" Wendy asked, "I mean... it's only a matter of time before guards find us, now."

"You're right," Lucy said, "Oh, those _idiots_. What do we do?"

"Split up," Erza said, "Cover as much ground as possible. We have to find Faust, quickly, to swiftly bring him to justice."

Everyone nodded and took off, as quickly as possible.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Gray wandered through the castle, cautiously yet quickly. He rushed down the halls, but waited at corners to look both ways. Eventually, when there just weren't any guards for the first fifty times he checked, Gray stopped checking and just kept running. He had gone up three flights of stairs and had run through so many hallways, by the time he finally found the regal-looking doors.

"...Let's see what's behind door number one," Gray muttered as he slung open the doors.

Standing a few feet from his bed in full armour was Sugarboy, his blade unsheathed and pointed at Gray.

"Hello, boy-o," Sugarboy said, "I take it you're one of the insurgents?"

Gray blinked, "Where's Faust?"

"Telling would ruin the entire point of switching around the castle, don't you think?" Sugarboy asked, "Though, I don't think you'll be making it to our King."

"Psh, I'll mop the floor with you. Whoever the hell you are."

Gray dashed forward, his gauntlets radiating cold. He punched Sugarboy in the chest and some of the knight's armour froze over and cracked as the commander stumbled back. Mid-stumble, Sugarboy turned it into a spin and slashed Gray across his chest. The Ice Mage grunted in pain as the wound began to bleed. Gray clasped his hands together, focusing the freezing effect to form a durable blade, which he dragged across the ground, carving a gash in it. Satisfied, he rushed forward and made to strike Sugarboy's sword to the side. What happened instead was that his ice blade suddenly turned back into water and Sugarboy punched him in the face. Gray fell back and Sugarboy slashed him across the chest.

"You're used to using Internal Magicks, aren't you? Not used to the idea of a sword that possesses magical power, like say, being able to cut through anything? Ice and rock liquify at its touch," Sugarboy taunted.

Sugarboy slammed his heel into Gray's temple and the Ice Mage shouted in pain, his whole head consumed by it. The knight kicked him in the side, slamming him into the wall.

"You see, stupid mage, I've already got you on the ropes. If knowledge was power, then right now? I'm your god."

Gray made to get to his feet, only for Sugarboy to slash his back open and stomping him to the floor. He didn't make to get back up. Sugarboy went to his door, whistling.

"Now to go screw over the Exceed. See ya in a few, punk, if you don't bleed out before I get back. I imagine you've got useful knowledge about Earthland. But I just don't have the time to beat it out of you right now."

He closed the doors behind him, and Gray groaned in pain beyond pain.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Erza immediately took two flights of stairs down and kept going. She ducked under a sigil that sprayed flame and kept running beyond the one that began releasing a poison mist. Scarlet felt unprepared without an arsenal of swords to back her up, but what she had would have to do. Three guards emerged from a hall up ahead and immediately took notice of her.

"You there!" a guard shouted, but upon realizing who she looked like, the guard quailed, "M-Miss Knightwalker! My apologies!"

Scarlet noticed how all three treated her with fear and kept running past them.

"Get to the battle!" she barked, as she kept going downstairs, "I have to attend to the King!"

The three looked at one another. One of them made to go after Erza, but the other two stopped him.

"Look, if she's going for the King, it's probably not for his sake," the first one hissed.

"Which is exactly why it's a good thing she's currently going the wrong way," the second whispered.

"Now, let's go to the battle, before Knightwalker comes back up here looking for the King and finds us."

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

As soon as he thought about it for more than two seconds, Natsu realized that his jet boots were basically vehicles. Non-living things that propelled him through the walls. Vehicles. He promptly crumpled mid-flight, but kept going. He became a spinning ball of destruction. Two or three soldiers who stayed behind for the purposes of protecting Faust yelped in fright upon seeing a flash of pink and white, before said flash slammed into them and kept going. Half of the bottom of floor's rooms had at least a wall bashed in, if not totally destroyed, by Natsu.

And he just kept going, wishing he could just throw up and be done.

"NATSUUUUUUU!" Happy wailed.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Edo-Wendy ducked under a soldier's one-two punch, then slashed her leg out. The soldier fell to the ground with a cry of pain and Edo-Wendy jumped to her feet and snapped a leg down into his crotch. Pain exploded through the soldier's body, before Edo-Wendy raised up her Air Shatter Cannon and blasted him in the face. Using only a fraction of the power, the ground nonetheless shattered beneath the soldier and he passed out.

Wendy's Edoras counterpart looked towards the castle, feeling again the fear of what was undoubtedly happening to all of her comrades. She gripped her cannon, snarling in fear and rage. _Argh..._ Three soldiers came for her, but Edo-Wendy was well-trained and prepared. She flung three shield-disturbing daggers in a split-second, cracking the guard's shields in an instant. The Magic feedback left the guards crumpling, until Edo-Wendy finished them with three quickshots of the Air Shatter Cannon.

"Gahhhh... I don't have _time_ for you losers!" Edo-Wendy snapped, before rushing for the castle.

The soldiers didn't have time to get in her way, before they were shot down by the Air Shatter. Edo-Wendy's eyes _burned_ with determination.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Lucy Heartphilia walked down the stairs, quickly, her hands jittery. This wasn't a good situation. She was used to having someone around when she infiltrated deep, dark, dangerous dungeons like this. She saw traces of blood on the floor, and the screams of battle seemed to be directly above her. She couldn't directly summon any of her Stellar Spirits to really help her in a fight; she could only draw on their power.

The Stellar Spirit Mage looked around, wondering which way to go, before finally deciding left, most likely in order to go in the opposite direction of the blood trail. The halls were totally silent aside from the muffled sounds of battle, barely a whisper of the fighting and dying.

"Where is it... where is Faust...?" Lucy hissed, quietly, as she turned a corner.

"...there you are, Fairy Brat. I was a little curious as what was going on upstairs," Erza Knightwalker said, "Battle? I'll get to that in a moment. Pleasure before business."

Lucy tried to run, but Knightwalker was too fast for her. Very soon, she would find her to be too strong as well, and _much_ too cruel.

The spear went to work, and Lucy began to scream...

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Zuri highly doubted Knightwalker had really suspected her of anything. Really, the succubus hadn't done anything to give herself away. All she had done was offer to go under the sheets again when Knightwalker jolted upright and started spouting something about battle sounds. Then, uh, then things started to suck. Mostly because Knightwalker jammed her Ten Commandments spear through Zuri's chest, where a heart _would_ be. Only Zuri liked to shuffle her organs around, to keep potential jackasses like Knightwalker on their toes.

As a result of the shanking, however, the succubus was crawling through the halls. Just one floor above, Lucy was screaming as Knightwalker went to work on her, but Zuri couldn't hear it. She was too focused on dragging herself through the halls. There was a door before her. A huge, royal door. It had that fugly king-guy's face emblazoned in ugly gold. That was him. That was the King. King What's-His-Face!

Just had to get through those the doors... She managed to regain enough strength to heal over her wounds. Had to use a lot of energy to do it, but she managed. Blearily, she shoved open the doors and peered in to see Faust sitting on his throne, idly tapping the arm of the chair. He noticed the door's opening and glared.

"Who has to report my kingdom's victory?"

Zuri stepped in, blood dripping onto the royal carpets. Faust stared at the naked, bleeding woman in something like shock.

"What are you doing here like this? This is no way to report to your King! Clean yourself up, first!"

Zuri hissed, letting her beastly side take over. It was aching to be released... Horns emerged first, then her hands became claws. Faust let out a very unmanly scream as Zuri dashed for him, to make for his throat. Faust seemed to recover his composure, however, and brought a whistle to his lips. He blew and the faintest of sounds floated through the air. Human ears could barely pick it up, more like a puff of air. But Zuri heard it as if it were a gunshot. She instantly stopped what she was doing, and fell to her knees. Faust laughed.

"Yes, yes... the beast whistle... You didn't expect that, did you?" the twisted King demanded, "Well, now you'll be a wonderful little guardian against any other fools who think they can try for my throat! HAH!"

Zuri heard and obeyed.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Erza crashed against a wall as she flew down the stairs, raging as she went. This maze of a castle, all with no map, was beyond frustrating. She could've sworn she had heard Lucy just a moment ago... Scarlet perked up, blinking, upon hearing it again. Her love... was in _pain_. Pain as Scarlet had once before heard, a long time ago. And then again for nights on end, when Lucy would awaken from nightmares of that awful girl, Venny. Titania gripped her blade all the tighter and shot forward at insane speeds to find her beloved.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Wendy leaped down a stairway, fear coursing through her. She heard Lucy's screams, and more than that, she had focused her sense of smell to detect where they were and smelled Zuri's scent mixed with blood. The castle, so sterilized, still somehow reeked of blood, no doubt from Knightwalker's rampages.

This was Zuri's blood, though, definitely. Wendy shuddered, the thought of her friend in such trouble distressing her. Charle flew after her at top speed, trying her hardest to keep up with her Dragon Slayer charge, and only just succeeding.

"Wendy... what's got you so panicked? Running like this... you'll be worn out before you get to Faust...!"

"Zuri's in trouble! I don't care about Faust! Let Natsu or Gajeel get him!"

"Don't be ridiculous! Zuri is not as important as Faust!"

"SHE'S FAMILY, CHARLE!"

"Stop being stupid about that succubus!"

"I CAN DO WHAT I WANT! AND RIGHT NOW, I'M GOING TO GO SAVE ZURI! NOW SHUT UP AND EITHER FOLLOW ME OR GO YOUR OWN WAY AND _YOU _CAN TRY TO FIND FAUST!"

Charle gritted her teeth, furiously, but only nodded and followed.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

The front castle doors opened wide to allow Sugarboy and Pantherlily full view of the battlefield. The Edo-Fairy Tailers were putting up an exceedingly good fight against the soldiers, fighting harder than they ever had before. The soldiers, so caught off guard and so unprepared, were currently only barely pushing back the Fairy Tailers through their sheer force of numbers. Pantherlily looked to Sugarboy in confusion.

"Castle swapped itself? What kind of magical defense was that? And why was I, the First Commander, not informed of this?" he grunted.

"Well, Pantherlily, m'boy, we feared you weren't wholly trustworthy," Sugarboy said, with a shrug, "What, with you being an Exceed and such. It's not impossible that you were just a spy. It's also why our gracious King had you constantly on missions, you know."

"I'm aware. You're probably also aware that I'm about to attack you."

"Yep. En guarde, then."

Sugarboy brought up his blade just as Panterlily lashed out with his immense sword. Pantherlily's had been infused with magic to resist alterations to its form, and so Sugarboy's Rosa Espada did nothing to it. The two clashed for a moment, then leaped back, flourishing their blades, before Pantherlily dashed forward. His wings activated, giving him further momentum. His blade slammed into the Rosa Espada, and there was a spray of sparks as the lachryma conflicted with one another.

"If you knew I was a spy, why did you never out me?" Pantherlily hissed, kicking Sugarboy in the chest.

The most loyal knight stumbled back, "You were useful for a long time, and I actually was only suspicious that you were a spy until a few days ago, when you practically confirmed it by flying right off to Roaming God's Island."

Pantherlily struck again, only for Sugarboy to duck the blow and slash at Pantherlily's legs. The large Exceed fell back, blood spraying from his legs. Sugarboy grinned, his pompadour pointing up to the skies.

"I'll give my regards to your queen," he said.

Before he could finish off Pantherlily, however, a dart of ice struck him in the arm, going through and pinning it against his side. He snarled in pain and looked over to see Gray, still bleeding a bit from his chest, his right arm extended from throwing the dart.

"Bet ya wish you'd been more thorough with me, now, don't you? Ya damn bastard," Gray snarled.

Sugarboy pulled his arm free of the spike, a gout of blood flowing from his side. He groaned in pain, but still made to go for Pantherlily's throat. However, the Exceed had recovered and brought his blade up faster. Sugarboy fell back, his chest slashed open and bleeding freely. Gray stomped on his face, breaking his nose.

"Stay down, ya pompadour freak," Gray hissed, "We've got enough problems without you butting in."

"I hope... your actions will... in time... benefit the kingdom. If not, then I will come back for your heads," Sugarboy hissed.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

A handful of Exceed stayed on board the Roaming God's Island in order to maintain its altitude and station. These poor, unfortunate souls were subjected to the mad cacklings and ramblings of Edo-Terasu, who occasionally attempted to prod some of them into becoming his "subjects". None said yes, under the grounds of "they liked their spleens just where they were". Eventually, Edo-Terasu grew bored with trying to persuade them, and felt "too lazy" to tie up any of them.

When Edo-Terasu, or Earthland's wackjob for that matter, is bored... _bad_ things happen. Of course, who the bad things happen to is entirely up to the wielder of the insanity. Edo-Terasu's aim was initially intended to be at the castle, but his first idea seemed so self-destructive that pretty much every Exceed had the same reaction.

"...Should I just _kill_ you, myself? Because SHOOTING YOURSELF OUT OF A CANNON is going to wind up with the same result!" one of the Exceed demanded.

Edo-Terasu fixed his glasses, allowing the Exceed to get a glimpse of his dissecting eyes. Mixed with his malicious grin, it made for a terrifying image that had the sentient cat trembling in an instant.

"Just try it, little pussy cat. I'll have fun dissecting you in the aftermath," Edo-Terasu said, grinning.

Edo-Ichiya stepped inbetween the other Exceed and Edo-Terasu, giving an amazingly gaudy pose as he did so, sparkling like crazy, "Now, now, no need for that! Queen Shagotte wouldn't appreciate you killing anyone!"

"Who said I'd kill him? A beating heart makes for a better experiment."

Edo-Ichiya and the other cat visibly quailed and scooted back. The other began to flee, but Edo-Ichiya grabbed him by the tail.

"Get the cannon ready. Also, have three others attune it to his exact specifications! GOOOOOO!" Edo-Ichiya screamed, before flying off into the distance.

Edo-Terasu grinned, "Come on, little pussy cat. I've got some math to work out."

In Edo-Terasu's ear, a little earpiece buzzed with Lucy's screams. His hand clenched, tight, and he gritted his teeth for a moment.

"We have a little birdy whose ego needs wrecking," Edo-Terasu hissed, under his breath.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

The Exceed pulled levers, pushed buttons, twisted knobs, and generally fiddled with the cannon controls as best as they could to all of Edo-Terasu's exact specifications. The man himself slid down into the cannon, feet-first, with a cackle. The crack team of cats cranked the cannon tight, then slammed exact amounts of Lachryma, pre-measured. Edo-Ichiya tapped the end of the cannon.

"Ready?"

"Oh, very much so. Fire... right about... _now_."

**BOOM.**

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Knightwalker stood over Lucy's bleeding body, grinning. She licked her lips and kneeled, holding up a small knife with her spare hand, preparing to put it against the back of Lucy's neck. She was interrupted, however, by the sound of something whooshing through the air and... screaming? Yes, there was a very loud scream. It wouldn't have caught her attention, except for what was being screamed.

"KNIGHTWALKER, YOU !"

She got to her feet, immediately, her eyes narrowing. She drew her spear, snarling at the memories of that voice. The creeping, wormy, slimeball of a man who came snivelling because of the death of his wife. Fool didn't realize what he was getting himself into! But he escaped, somehow he fucking _escaped_ with that damn tin thing of his.

"..._no_."

The wall shattered in a flash of magic and Edo-Erza didn't have the reaction time to deal with the threat.

"SOUL PURGE!"

There was another flash of magic, from Edo-Terasu's right fist, and Knightwalker was shot across the hall like a rocket. Edo-Terasu tapped down, snarling. He reached up to the bolt through his head and clicked it once. The bruises on his body and the bleeding stopped a moment later.

"You. Fucking. _Bitch_. DAMN, that felt good!" Edo-Terasu declared, holding up a fist.

He looked down to Lucy and knelt down.

"Sup? You, uh, look kinda rough. Here," the Doc said, placing a bandage on the back of her neck.

The bandage was obviously magical in some way, because Lucy was able to get to her feet a few moments later. Edo-Terasu stepped in front of her just as Knightwalker dashed forward, her spear in hand. Edo-Terasu seemed to flash through space itself, and he kicked the Ten Commandments' head, slamming it into the wall. Knightwalker immediately drew a knife and slashed Edo-Terasu across his chest, drawing a nice, deep line in his chest. The Doc ducked back, avoiding a second, vicious swipe, then knelt down as Knightwalker tried to step forward. The result was Edo-Erza faceplanting into the stone concrete.

Lucy was on her feet by then, and she glared down at her lover's Edoras counterpart with burning eyes. She held up a Key, and practically slashed the very air with it.

"_Gate of the Lion. _LOKE!"

The glasses materialized, as did the ring. Edo-Erza got to her feet, just in time for Lucy to deck her across the face with a glowing "Regulus" fist. Knightwalker stumbled back into Edo-Terasu's "Soul Purge", and by that point it was evident she had taken quite enough. Lucy made to punch her again, only for Knightwalker to catch her first. The Regulus Impact cracked a bone, but Knightwalker barely reacted. She seized Lucy's hand with her other arm and there was loud SNAP sound. Lucy, so untrained to deal with such pain, screamed and stumbled back.

Crying, Lucy dispelled Loke, and held up a different key. This one would help her through the pain, through sheer force of bitch.

"_Gate of the Water-Bearer_. AQUARIUS!"

Lucy's hair morphed, becoming long and an ocean-like blue. Her right hand became a translucent blue, and she stood up straight, her eyes narrowed in sheer rage.

"You think you have what it takes to put ME down?" Lucy screamed, "BEGONE WITH YOU, TRAMP!"

Edo-Erza blinked in genuine confusion and shock. _No_ one had _ever_ talked to her like they were so superior before. _No one_. The five seconds of sheer "what the _fuck_" that Knightwalker experienced gave Lucy the time she needed to let loose a flood through the hallway. Knightwalker only had the thought to react by taking in a deep breath before she was dragged underwater by the force of the small, temporary river. Lucy turned towards the Doc and snarled, before shaking herself and dispelling Aquarius. Without the force of "will", Lucy began to wobble and collapsed just as the trying-not-to-be-good-doctor reached out to catch her.

"Alright, so, you just pissed off Knightwalker in such a way that I find both acceptable and hilarious. Only bad side is now she's got so much sheer rage that she won't hold back in the slightest when she stops half-drowning, which should be in about ten seconds when the water begins seeping through any cracks or stairwells."

"What's our plan, then?"

"I'M GOING TO SKULL-FUCK YOU!" Knightwalker screeched, sputtering through what water remained and thrashing about for a moment as she attempted to get to her feet.

"..._run like a bitch_."

Edo-Terasu slung Lucy over his shoulder and dashed off, energy crackling around his feet for a moment. Edo-Erza roared like a wounded lioness and took off after the duo, the Ten Commandments in hand. Lucy, meanwhile, felt a deep sense of relief that she had an empty bladder, as she deemed it inappropriate to wet all over her saviour's shoulder.

"YOU'LL DIE SCREAMING! YOU'LL DIE _**SCREAMING**_!"

"H'oh boy," Edo-Terasu muttered, "Sounds like you _really_ pissed her off. You are on my good list, girl."

"Er... thanks?" 

"You're also on my bad list." 

"WHAT?"

"You set that on my heels."

"BUT-!"

"I WILL RUN YOU THROUGH AND ROAST YOU! _FUCKING ROAST YOU!_"

"...that's not a pleasant image," Lucy whimpered.

"She's such an amateur. See, threats need to come in a very casual variety. A simple 'I'm going to dissect you' is so much more effective than shouting off various methods of killing. By the way, _I'm going to dissect you_."

"...I hate my life."

"See?"

Edo-Terasu turned sharply and blasted up the stairs, his shoes crackling with light for a split-second, and yet Knightwalker still followed like a rabid jackal. The twisted doctor saw something that immediately made him duck to the side just as Knightwalker rushed to the top of the stairs. She was slammed in the face with the broad side of a blade. The dark knight stumbled back, dazed, seeing only a whirl of red for a moment, before focusing in on it to see short, scarlet hair.

The Titania, Erza Scarlet, stood before her, glaring viciously at Erza Knightwalker.

"Doctor, get Lucy out of here."

"It's the DOC!" Edo-Terasu snapped, already running.

"I have someone to deal with," Erza hissed, pointing the Edoras-blade at Knightwalker, "You tormented Lucy. Tortured, injured, all with no purpose."

Knightwalker growled, holding up the Ten Commandments, "No, there was a purpose. _It was fun_."

"Monster!"

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

Erza and Erza charged one another.

_**-FAIRY TAIRU-**_

The Fire and Iron Dragon Slayers broke through the outermost walls of the castle at roughly the same time, rocketing through the air and then down into the ground. Natsu continued spinning about, Happy clinging desperately to him, until finally Gajeel picked up his Fire counterpart and shook him for a moment, causing the rocket-boots to stop long enough for Happy to unstrap them.

"Okay, that pretty much made my day," Gajeel said, grinning, "You in this kind of shape is just hysterical."

Happy finished tossing the other to the ground, clearly angry with it, then looked up to the skies for a moment as the momentum from tossing it had pushed him back a bit. He stopped and stared up and up, towards the top of the tallest tower.

"The tower is... shiny...?" Happy seemed to ask.

"Why, yes," Gajeel said, staring up as well.

"...hm?" Natsu grumbled, shaking off the sickness after a moment and gazing along with Happy and Redfox.

"It's _Lachryma_," Gajeel said, grinning with shark-like teeth, "Fuckin' A. That's our target, Natty boy."

Natsu got to his feet and smacked Gajeel on the back of the head, "Natty boy! That's _beyond_ stupid!" 

"Suck on it, flame-breath. RACE YA TO THE TOP!" Gajeel cackled, as he began to run up the side of the tower.

Happy clung to Natsu's back and the duo took off at top speeds towards the tower's peak. They were going to rescue their friends, their family...

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Halfway down a hallway, Wendy nearly wound up attacking "herself" just as her old counterpart practically bounded down the stairs and into the hallway. The two looked at one another for a moment.

"Do you know where Zuri is?" Edo-Wendy asked.

"Digusting girl," Charle muttered.

"Hush, Charle. I'm following Zuri's scent, now. Hurry!" Wendy said.

Edo-Wendy rushed after her Earthland counterpart, trying not to think about that statement. The girls and the Exceed ran through the castle as quickly as they could, with the eldest of the trio at the back, desperately trying and failing to keep up. By the time the three of them leaped down into the blood-smeared hallway, Wendy was forced to wait a few seconds for the teen to catch up.

"Wh-what... what happened here?" Edo-Wendy asked, horrified.

"...She crawled... bleeding, she crawled. To get to that door," Wendy whispered.

"What on Edoras did she get herself into?" Charle muttered, "Fool."

Wendy turned towards Charle, "Listen, Charle, you do not have to like Zuri, but I... I will _not_ allow you to keep disrespecting her! She doesn't chew you out on every available opportunity just because of what you are!"

Charle blinked, her eyes wide with shock. Edo-Wendy put her hand on Wendy's shoulder.

"You're doing, great, kiddo. Just like me. But, um, we _really_ need to help Zuri if she's lost this much blood."

Wendy nodded and rushed on into the room, Edo-Wendy right behind her for the short stretch. Charle shook herself, still obviously quite shocked by her experience. The Exceed flew on after them, concern evident on her face, attempting to push aside the issue for the moment.

Charle entered the room to find, to her shock, Zuri standing upright, hardly bleeding at all yet soaked in blood. Charle should've been less shocked than she was at the nudity, which neither of the girls seemed to take note of. Rather, they took note of the fact that the succubus had made to attack them with a swipe of her claws. Both jumped to either side of the swipe, but Zuri only continued her assault by attempting to bisect Charle. Edo-Wendy immediately shot Zuri in the side of her face and the succubus stumbled and fell to her side. Charle glanced up to see a figure sitting in a large, ornate chair in the back of the room.

"Th-that's Zuri!" Wendy screamed.

"THAT'S Zuri!"

"Didn't you know she wasn't human?" Wendy asked.

"Yes, but I didn't know it meant _this_." 

Zuri got back to her feet and rushed for Wendy, who ducked every swipe, dropped her Air Shatter Cannon, and raised up her gloved hand in preparation. Zuri brought both of her claws against Wendy, but the Air Dragon Slayer jumped over the succubus and smacked her square in the face with her gloved hand, releasing an enormous burst of wind that sent Zuri flying into the wall. The succubus slumped to the floor, seemingly unconscious. Wendy clapped her hands over her ears, her eyes screwed up in pain for a moment, which Charle mimicked, wincing. Edo-Wendy looked at the two in confusion.

"Gah, that _noise_," Wendy hissed under her breath, "What _is_ that?"

After a moment, Wendy let go of her ears and looked up at Faust, who let the whistle drop from his lips.

"You stupid children!" Faust snapped, "You should've just given up or died up there in the battle! Meddling kids and your stupid _cats_! I HATE CATS!"

Charle blinked, "...excuse me?"

"Acting high and mighty like you do, up on your so-called God's Islands! I _hate_ your kind most of all! Spreading your word of death, sentencing my people so needlessly to death! You had to be stopped!"

"...he's rambling," Edo-Wendy muttered.

"Which is why my top scientists started working on a secret weapon!" Faust declared, "It was tough to craft an ideal prototype to base future models on. We needed someone strong, someone capable of fueling this prototype Dragon!"

"What on Edoras is this guy babbling about? And why will he not shut up?" Edo-Wendy hissed, "I'm just going to kill him!"

Faust held up his sceptre and pressed a button near the bottom of it. One of the walls swung open to reveal something that shocked Edo-Wendy nearly into cardiac arrest. Strapped into a thick, bizarre, monstrous machine-thing was her "uncle Gajeel".

_**Dun dun dun...**_


	6. Monster

**Chapter Six: Monster**

**Has anyone figured out how Edo-Terasu is a nod towards, yet? It should be REALLY obvious, soon.**

The Fairy Blade, as Erza Scarlet had named the blade the Doc had made, and the Ten Commandments clashed hard and fast. The Fairy Queen snarled as the Fairy Hunter stabbed for her heart with vicious intent. Erza parried the blow, and her counterpart only chuckled upon feeling the impact that resulted from the clash of sword and spear.

"You're strong," Edo-Erza noted, grinning.

"You're sickening."

Knightwalker batted aside the Fairy Blade with the back of her well-armoured hand, still receiving a minor zap of magic for her troubles. Still, she had given herself an opening, which she used and abused. Edo-Erza's Ten Commandments slashed through Titania's armour and created a nice gash across her stomach. Erza powered right through this, and the Fairy Blade quickly bit into Edo-Erza's shoulder. The only thing that kept the spear in the monster's hand was years of training to handle any sort of pain that could be a problem. Even this could be handled, if only just. Knightwalker reared back and full-on kicked Titania in the chest, forcing her opponent to take a couple of steps back to avoid completely falling over. Knightwalker twirled her spear, which began glowing for a moment, its form shifting.

"Eisenmeteor is good for an opening move," Knightwalker said, analyzing Erza as a lioness analyzes a gazelle, "But you seem a little too fast for it. Silfarion!"

The spear's head shifted from the four jagged, curving edges into a single arrowhead. Knightwalker dashed forward, and Scarlet was unable to dodge the first strike, which slashed open her side.

"I can cut bullets with this spear," the Fairy Hunter gloated, "And have, on so many occasions..."

Scarlet tapped the front of the Doc's strange armour, which began to shift in places, revealing boosters. Having had experience in fast combat, she prepared to face off with her twisted counterpart. Knightwalker slashed viciously for Titania, who zipped out of the way, bursts of energy leaving a trail in her wake. The Fairy Queen rocketed back towards The Fairy Hunter, but the twisted knight narrowly dodged the strike, attempting to return the favor but failing. A small voice buzzed in Erza's ear about the jet's fuel being limited and dwindling.

_'I'll have to end this battle of speed, then...'_

Titania stopped, the jets in her suit reducing to a sliver of their power for a moment. Knightwalker flew for her opponent, a deadly gleam in her eyes. She raised the Silfarion and made for Scarlet's throat.

"Letting down your guard!"

Titania let go of all of her other jet functions and poured as much power as she could into her right arm's jets. One-tenth of a second later, the Fairy Blade swung with such might as to break the sound barrier along with the Silfarion's spearhead. Knightwalker tumbled back with a shriek of fright, and that little robotic voice intoned that there was too little fuel left to provide another burst of speed like that.

The Ten Commandments assumed a different form after moment, with a wide spearhead and a glowing orb protruding from the bottom of the shaft. Knightwalker snarled and held up the large spear, pointing it at Scarlet as she tried to back up.

"Mel Force!" Knightwalker growled.

Erza Scarlet dug in her heels as the vacuum wave tried to pull her against the not-so-loving embrace of Erza Knightwalker's spear. She didn't have enough jet-power for a speedy blow like before...! But... what about a forcefield?

_'Currently, shield is capable of going full-power... Focusing shield will provide offensive abilities, yes.'_

_'Do that,'_ Erza replied.

She felt the forcefield project from her left forearm, and she immediately raised it to meet with the spearhead. It flared out, providing a small wall to protect Erza, before shrinking down to the size of a dinner plate just as she jumped forward to aid the momentum given to her by the Mel Force. The spear head met with the forcefield, and energy crackled and raged about for half a minute, until finally Erza's left gauntlet and the Mel Force's spearhead shattered.

"You're persistent, just like me," Erza Knightwalker said, grinning.

"Don't you dare compare yourself to me. It disgusts me enough that we look alike!"

Scarlet slammed Knightwalker in the throat, then kicked her into a wall. Before Knightwalker could get back up, Scarlet used the lest vestige of jets to propel herself forward and punch Knightwalker _through_ the wall. The Fairy Queen stepped back, gasping for her breath. She regained just as a large blast of energy erupted from the hole in the wall, catching the Fairy Queen in the chest and slamming her into the wall.

"Wh-what...?" Erza gasped.

"It's a fuckin' cannon," Edo-Erza snapped, getting out of the hole in the wall, "For when shitty little upstarts like you give me the perfect opportunity to blast you."

The strange shoulder cannon she held shifted into what looked rather like a basic spear. Edo-Erza grinned and launched it at Erza, who instinctively side-stepped it. Smugly, she grinned at the idea of stealing away the Ten Commandments and turning it on her monstrous counterpart, or at least keeping it away from her. However, this idea was turned on its head when the explosion tore apart the wall and launched Erza through the air. Years of Fairy Tail brawls had gotten her used to explosions mid-fight and so she managed to get back to her feet in two seconds, just as the Fairy Hunter rushed for her, the Explosion in hand.

"You just make sneak attacks _too_ easy!"

Erza tapped into the strength boosters just as Knightwalker was within a reasonable distance and struck the head of the spear, knocking it back a foot or two in the process. The explosion knocked her back, but it also did enough damage to Knightwalker to be worth it. The spearhead was damaged, and as a result the explosion was less powerful. Knightwalker grimaced at the force and fire, but merely snarled and shifted it after the blast.

"It's true, though," Knightwalker said, "We are quite alike. Twin lionesses. Much like the Double Dragon Spear!"

The Ten Commandments split down the middle, shining and shifting for a moment, becoming two nearly identical spears. The main difference between the two was that one was a crystal-blue, and the other was a dark red. Edo-Erza grinned at Erza, who felt like recoiling. She slid her hand along the broad side of the blade, and it began to glow, just as Edo-Erza rushed towards her. She thrusted the dark red spear forward and conjured a swirl of fire from the tip, which caught Erza in the chest. The Earthlander was used to Natsu, however, and withstood it. She slashed upwards, swiftly, and batted the burning spear out of Edo-Erza's hand. Before she could strike again, the icy spear caught her in the lower stomach, creating a light aura of frost over her torso, and cracking that armour a moment later, leaving her torso bare aside from a black bra.

"You bother wearing under-clothing in a fight? Fascinating."

Erza didn't muster any words, just groaned in pain, feeling the spear digging into her flesh. She seized the shaft just below the blade of the spear and exhuded as much strength as she could muster, breaking it immediately. Edo-Erza smacked her across the face with the butt of her spear, before grabbing up the other half of the Double Dragon Spear and letting it change.

"This is the Saint Spear, Ravelt. This is my strongest spear, which can shake the very earth!" Knightwalker declared, "This is the one I would've used on that blonde bitch, if you hadn't shown up. Mostly for _fun_, you see. It ruptures organs in a slow, _painful_ manner. You'll die in less than four strikes."

"...You know," Erza said, lowly, "Perhaps you're right, Knightwalker. Perhaps we aren't so different."

"Oh? Finally getting it? Come around to my side of things, and maybe this kingdom can handle the both of us," Knightwalker chuckled.

She had no intentions of letting Scarlet _live_ much longer, if the little Fairy brat would actually help her, of course. She just knew that her counterpart had proven to be tough enough to be her equal. A quick assassination wouldn't be difficult, though. Knightwalker's quick internal envisioning of the future was cut short when she felt the impact of metal on metal to see the Fairy Blade knocking the Ravelt out of her hands, before being sheathed in her chest.

"No. I just came to terms with one thing," Scarlet whispered, "When it comes down to it, when I must... I can be every bit the monster you can."

Knightwalker gurgled for a moment, dropping to her knees. She looked over to see the Fairy Queen picking up the Ravelt, and panic began to well up in her chest. Erza Scarlet approached her opponent, her eyes dead.

"You're fortunate, Knightwalker. Fortunate that I have been cemented to humanity by Lucy. I can be a monster, monstrous enough to kill you. But I am not so wholly contemptible as you, nor as Venny. I won't make your suffering last. But I will pass my judgement, and find you guilty for crimes against Fairy Tail, both Earthland's and Edoras'."

"Get on with it, you _bitch_." 

Erza drove the Ravelt through Edo-Erza's chest, and a powerful wave shot through the Fairy Hunter's body, rupturing several organs. She pulled the Fairy Blade from Edo-Erza's chest, and watched her cough up blood for a moment, her body wracked with pain.

"You will die in pain and all alone, uncared for by your comrades. This is your hell, which you have wrought on so many others," Erza snarled.

The Fairy Blade flashed out, and Erza Knightwalker's head fell to the floor.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Gajeel leaped to the top of the tower a second before Happy dropped Natsu to the roof. The Iron Dragon Slayer grinned at Natsu, certain of victory.

"Yeah, well, your singing is still terrible," Natsu grumbled, approaching the lachryma, Happy still resting on his shoulders.

"You just got bad taste, fire-face."

The Dragon Slayers put their hands against the titan of a Lachryma crystal, channelling their natural magicks through the Doc's well-crafted magical machinery to blast directly through the Lachryma. A few Exceed dropped down around them, holding hordes of weapons.

"Standard swords and shields for the units are here!"

A minute later, the Lachryma crystal broke apart, fracturing in a million places. For a second, it seemed to be a flurry of shards, before glowing. The immense shine shrunk down, taking on dozens of different shapes, until the whole of the Fairy Tail guild stood before Natsu and Gajeel.

"What's the meaning of all this?" Makarov asked.

"Where are we...?"

"NO TIME FOR THAT!" Natsu shouted.

"I'll sum it up," Gajeel said, "Bad guys down there are wearing armour. Good guys are the guys who look like us. It's confusing. But just trust us. Take your weapon from a cat and follow us to the ground!"

And with another influx of reinforcements to aid their enemies, the Edoras Soldiers slowly, ever slowly, began to realize that defeat was inevitable. One specific Fairy Tailer stayed up on the platform, however.

"My water magic doesn't work herrrrrre!" Juvia wailed, bemoaning that her water-clothes were currently a puddle, huddled up to reduce how much of her body was exposed.

_**-FAIRY TAIRU-**_

The war machine, fueled by Edo-Gajeel, struck for the two girls with surprising speed for its size. Wendy shoved Edo-Wendy to the side and thrust forward her gloved hand, unleashing a tremendous burst of air that tore open the right arm of the machine. Faust's eyes widened at the girl's power, before deciding it was time to activate another defense.

Meanwhile, the war machine activated its two side-cannons, which blasted Wendy through the air. The Dragon Slayer slammed into the ground, but she got right back up as if nothing had happened. Edo-Wendy raised up her pistol and cracked off three shots at the machine's legs. Edo-Gajeel seemed to stir, his eyes just barely beginning to open.

"Gajeel...! Uncle Gajeel! P-please snap out of this!" Edo-Wendy pleaded.

The war machine blasted her, and she collided with the wall with a sickening crack and a shriek of pain. Charle jolted up, fright in her eyes.

"W-Wendy!"

Edo-Gajeel groaned and looked around, blearily, as the machine's left arm swung for Charle, reacting to the loud sound, producing a blade as it went. Charle screamed, paralyzed by the sight of the monstrous thing advancing on her, when there was suddenly a silhouette imposed between her and the machine. The sword slashed down and there was a gout of blood from the figure, which Charle identified a moment later, when the figure had collapsed again. The war machine was slammed into the ground by Wendy blasting it with the Air Shatter Cannon.

"You... you stupid succubus! Why would you do that for me!" Charle demanded, fiercely.

Zuri looked over at her and grinned, "You're important to Wendy, twit. That makes you important to me..."

"ZURI!" Wendy shrieked.

The war machine whirled towards Wendy, getting upright and preparing a horde of weaponry at once. It never got the chance, as the Air Dragon Slayer clenched her right hand and a wave of power erupted from the little girl's frame. A second later, Wendy was in front of the war machine, her Air Shatter Cannon discarded. She slashed out both legs and destroyed the war machine's left arm with the added force provided by Edo-Terasu's boots. She tapped down, dived to the side, then picked up the Air Shatter Cannon and blasted through the back half of the machine.

"Oh, dear mother of god," Edo-Gajeel grumbled, as the war machine collapsed to the side, the majority of its functions totally ceased.

Edo-Wendy stumbled over to the heap of machinery and her half-dead uncle and fell to her knees beside it, unable to speak. Edo-Gajeel looked up at her and grinned, weakly.

"Ah... hey, little bit...," Edo-Gajeel whispered, "What's up?"

"You're alive..."

"Well, yeah. I'm too cool to die. It's like being too awesome to live, only different," Edo-Gajeel said, grinning a little wider, now.

"Zuri, are you okay...?" Wendy asked.

"I'm patching her up, now," Charle said, quickly, as she put bandages over Zuri's most recent wound.

Wendy blinked, before turning towards the throne. She looked over at Edo-Wendy and Edo-Gajeel, then back to Charle and Zuri. She approached the collapsed war machine.

"Everyone, _get out_," Wendy said, sharply.

"What?" Edo-Wendy asked.

"You have to get out, now. Get your uncle and get out of here, quickly," she said, breaking a few of the restraints holding Edo-Gajeel to it.

"I... what?" Edo-Wendy asked.

"...Now!" Wendy shouted, fiercely, "I have to take care of Faust, but you four can't be here for that! Now, _go_!"

"I will not do any such thing," Charle said, sharply.

Wendy looked up to Zuri, her eyes pleading. A moment later, the succubus sighed and picked up the Exceed, restraining her tightly. Charle gasped and began struggling, but Zuri had size and strenght on her side.

"You better know what you're doing, kid."

Wendy only nodded for a moment, before helping Edo-Gajeel to his feet long enough for Edo-Wendy to get to be able to support his weight. The reunited family hurried out, with Zuri's help. Wendy watched them leave, then turned towards the throne. She raised up her Air Shatter Cannon just as a mighty machine emerged from the opening wall behind the throne.

"Prepare yourself, you stupid girl!" Faust cried from within the machine, "Prepare for the Dormu Anim _and tremble_!"

Wendy affixed her glove and looked up at the machine, feeling fear running through her veins, but not caring. This was Faust, the man who had caused so much of this world to suffer. She had only been around Edoras' Fairy Tail for a few days, but she already felt love for them. That this man would make their very congregation illegal, would hunt them down, for the supposed sake of his people... was unforgivable.

The Dormu Anim gave the appearance of a mechanical, bipedal dragon with a white and silver design. Wendy gulped as it aimed one of its cannons right at her, and the girl activated her boots, jetting to the side. A large portion of the wall was taken out, immediately. Wendy let out a high-pitched squeal, partially out of fright and partially to gain Faust's attention once more.

"Tricky little brat!"

Another shot, another miss. Three more shots, and Wendy ducked, weaved around, and generally outmaneuvered each one. Faust glared daggers at the girl as she taunted him, sticking out her tongue, before zipping to the side just as he let loose another basic magic blast. There was a sudden rumbling sound and Faust blinked.

"...what?"

He looked off to see the brat rushing through the exiting hallways, just as he realized that he had successfully blown about five enormous holes in the walls of his throne room. The Dormu Anim started to rush out of the castle, but the collapse and subsequent _avalanche_ of castle beat him to the punch.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Edo-Terasu leaped over one last horde of soldiers, who started to rush after him, before Gildartz tapped down in front of them. The S-Class Mage grinned widely and smashed the first soldier's face in with his fist. The others attempted to swarm him, but one powerful swing of his still-whole leg sent them falling over one another.

Meanwhile, the Doc rushed over to the group of Exceed who attended to a few "soldiers" wounded in the battle. Edo-Elfman groaned from three stab wounds in his right leg, which was busy being bandaged up. Edo-Terasu set Lucy down and turned towards one of the Exceed.

"I'm calling down the Kohryu. Tell _Moron_ to get it down here in less than two minutes or I will cut open his stomach and show him what he had for breakfast."

"Y-yes, sir!"

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Every Imperial Soldier, Fairy Tailer, Edo-Fairy Tailer, and Exceed stopped for a moment when they heard the first rumble. _Everyone_ stared in utter shock when half of the castle collapsed, becoming nothing but a small mountain of rock and rubble.

"Oh god... good Erza and the other Lucy were still in there!" Edo-Natsu whimpered, "And... and..."

"Hush up and keep fighting!" Edo-Lucy snapped, tripping up three guards at once with her whip, and then wrapping the whip around a fourth one's neck, pulling him to her and punching him in the face, knocking him unconscious, "We've almost secured it! We've almost secured victory!"

"Faust's will is indomitable!" a guard snapped, decking Edo-Natsu, sending him sprawling to the ground.

The guard put up his fists, and Lucy Ashley prepared to fight him.

"You ruined my life! You ruined so many lives, just like mine!" Edo-Lucy screamed, lashing out with her words and whip in sync.

The whip seized the guard's arm, but he wound up pulling her forward before she could attempt to attack him. The guard smacked her across the face.

"This was all for the dream of Faust's paradise! With enough magic, we can have eternal paradise! But you stupid mage guilds had to try and wreck it with your wanton magic use!"

Edo-Lucy quickly unsheathed a dagger and stabbed him through a chink in his armour, the blade going inbetween his ribs. The guard let go of her in pain, cringing and groaning.

"Then why bother killing so many villagers? Why treat everyone outside the capital _like trash_?" Lucy Ashely snarled, "You've never been _outside_ the capital, have you? It's a WASTELAND!"

"Obviously... it wasn't enough, if you wretches got through," the guard snapped, trying to push forward towards her.

The Edo-Fairy Tailer tossed a second knife, which caught the guard in the throat, and he fell back, dead. Lucy Ashley gazed down at him for a moment, angrily.

"No. You certainly didn't do enough," Edo-Lucy hissed.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

The rubble shook for a few moments, before a blast of energy blew an enormous amount of it away. The Dormu Anim half-crawled out of the hole, using rockets at the last moment, which gave it just enough upward momentum to propel it out of the mountain.

"That... that brat...!" Faust raged.

The Dormu Anima turned to view the vast majority of the Imperial Army slaughtered or surrendering. Rockets mounted on either side of it, when there was an explosion just before it. Smoke billowed about for a moment, before a claw shot out from the smoke, mirroring the Dormu Anim's own, and slashing across the Dormu Anim's torso. There was a whirl of wind, and the smoke cleared to reveal a second mechanical dragon with a golden design. There was a visible cockpit in the head of the dragon, from which Edo-Terasu gave the finger to the King.

"Y-you!" Faust snarled, "You should be dead!" 

"But I'm not," Edo-Terasu said, simply, "I don't do a lot of things I should. I _will_, however, rip your face off with the Kohryu. It's better than last time, when your three flunkies were able to beat it."

"FLUNKIES! They're my elite!"

"Were."

The Kohryu and the Dormu Anim slashed at one another, their claws meeting with a grinding of metal on metal and sparks. The Dormu Anim's missiles shot out, only to meet with two lasers the size of pinpricks which detonated the missiles immediately. The explosion rocked both mechas, but only for a moment.

"WERE!"

"Pantherlily? He betrayed you. Sugarboy? He's bleeding out at Pantherlily's feet. Knightwalker? Well, that bitch got a fate worse than death. Then she got death. You've lost, Faust, don't you see? Your army is failing. Your greatest forces have been kicked out from under you. All you've got is this tin can you call a mecha. Do you know how many design flaws are in it?"

"Your weapon looks similar!"

The Kohryu's claws slashed out in a blur, tearing off the Dormu Anim's right arm. Edo-Terasu grinned. The Dormu Anim blasted the Kohryu, and the golden dragon-mech stumbled back, before retaliating with a beam from its maw. Faust cried out as the controls became too hot from the lasers bearing down on his mecha for him to keep gripping. The beam stopped after a minute of this, and Edo-Terasu just cackled. Faust re-affirmed his hold of the controls, and only hissed when his flesh began to burn. The Dormu Anim let loose two more missiles which homed in on the Kohryu and exploded against its torso, tearing open some of the machinery

"That's the fun part. I made the Kohryu just a little better than the Dormu Anim," Edo-Terasu said, "You seem to have hope, right now, after all. I want to crush it!"

"Just a little better... HAH!" Faust crowed, "You don't know about the secrets of the Dormu Anim, then!"

"Beg pardon?"

The Kohryu charged, jets propelling it across the landscape. The Dormu Anim swirled with power, and it met the Kohryu's claws with a single missile that exploded twenty feet before the golden dragon, letting loose an immense explosion that totally engulfed the area. The Kohryu paused in its charge, just as the silver and white pattern of the Dormu Anim was seemingly wiped away by a sudden change to black.

"The Dormu Anim! BLACK SKY!" Faust roared.

"...okay, an alternate form to your mecha? That's _moronic_." 

"This form drains magic from the planet, faster, but it's necessary in the face of what you wield!"

"Drains magic... YOU DAMN IDIOT!"

The Dormu Anim opened its maw and the Dragon Rider's Spreading Cannon erupted immediately, engulfing the whole of the Kohryu and part of the castle. Explosions erupted within the cannon's blast-radius, and when the Spreading Cannon cut off, the Kohryu had been blown to pieces. Faust observed the shattered remains of the Kohryu, eager to see no further reaction from it. He was disappointed and horrified to see some of the metal stir, then be displaced by Edo-Terasu stand up amidst the destroyed remains. He looked up at Faust, then down at his chest, which had an piece of shrapnel through it.

"...right through the heart. This'll be painful," the Doc groaned, seizing the shrapnel with both hands and slowly pulling it out.

So horrified the King was that he could only stare in complete and utter shock, without any thoughts of attacking the insane doctor as he extricated the offending piece of metal. Edo-Terasu stumbled for a moment, panting as he dropped the metal, before reaching up to the bolt.

"God Complex, click two," Edo-Terasu muttered, twisting the bolt until it clicked once.

Instantly, the changes were made apparent. His chest healed over, leaving only a massive scar where the metal had been. He tossed aside his labcoat, then tore off the shirt to reveal that he was no average scientist-wimp, but also that his body was _covered_ in scars. Faust regained his senses as the sight of Edo-Terasu rushing towards him, and bid the Dormu Anim go back into action.

Edo-Terasu leaped over the claw-swipe, tapped down on the Dormu Anim's arm, then dashed over it to smash the head with his right leg, before bringing up both hands.

"SOUL PURGE!"

He smacked both of his glowing hands into the head, and the dragon-mecha twitched for a moment, its systems freezing up for a moment, before recovering. Edo-Terasu leaped through the air and pulled a communications-medallion from his pants pocket.

"Moron!" 

"I AM EDO-ICHIYA!"

"RIGHT! MORON! GET THOSE THREE SUITED UP, _TWO HOURS AGO_!"

Edo-Terasu dashed to the side as four missiles launched out towards him, exploding one after another. They sought him out, specifically, but his acrobatic skills were too great. Unfortunately, he realized he just didn't have the damage output to keep up with and destroy the Dormu Anim: Black Sky. Bastard had to pull some trump card out of nowhere. Oh well, he had one, too...

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Pantherlily looked up to see a familiar face amidst the crowd. He weaved amidst the enemy soldiers like a shadow, striking quickly and moving on even quicker. The Prince... was already here? Yes, everything was almost over.

"You set this into motion well, Your Majesty," Pantherlily said, as Mystogan approached him.

"There is but one more thing to take care of," Mystogan said, his face still covered by the veil.

Pantherlily nodded, "Take care of him, swiftly. I will stay here to observe and maintain the last dregs of battle."

Mystogan nodded and darted off.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Edo-Terasu leaped just out of range of the Dormu Anim's initial blast. A second blast, however, caught him in the chest and might've incinerated him if not for the Lachryma he had infused into his body to diffuse most offensive Magic. He pointed at Faust, accusingly.

"You're lowly, you're vile, and you're dead," Edo-Terasu said, harshly.

"Who is in the big dragon-mecha! WHO! I AM! I CAN CRUSH YOU!"

"There's something tragic and _hilarious_ about that."

The Dormu Anim moved for Edo-Terasu, who shot upwards through the air and axe-kicked the dragon-mecha in the head, before kicking back off of it.

"Wizard Cancelling? Fascinating," Edo-Terasu said, "But it functions along the lines of Lachryma. Which means you'll not be liking what comes next."

"What's that! Some last, desperate gambit of yours?" 

"I get to beat you down vicariously through these three."

"Wha-? GAH!"

Faust screamed as the Dormu Anim was rocked by a long-range, high-pressure blast of air. A moment later, two figures smashed into the dragon-mecha. One seemed to be a small tank in human form, with a dark gray color scheme. The other figure was covered in armour as well, but the armour was clearly not as thick as the other's suit. It was a mix of black and red, with wing-like blades on the arms and serrated claws on the hands.

"Forge and Breaker. Where's the other?" Edo-Terasu asked, looking around for a moment.

The Dormu Anim roared, letting loose a barrage of missiles, just as the red armour, identified as Breaker, zoomed back out of the way. The Forge, however, just held out its immense arms as the explosions erupted across its form. Faust grinned until the smoke cleared, to reveal the Forge still there, seemingly unscathed.

"Yeah. Your big, bad missiles might as well just be fireworks," Gajeel said, behind the mask of the Forge armour.

"WHAT KIND OF MONSTER ARE YOU!" Faust raged.

The Dormu Anim rushed forward, its shoulders emitted huge bursts of energy to gives it claws a titanic force. Gajeel merely grinned, watching as the claw zoomed forward, only to be shot down by a missile from the sky. A moment later, a third armoured entity dropped down. Wendy wore the Grenadier armour, which totally covered her body as well. Her armour was the thinnest-looking, being overall small. However, it had a large set of wings emerging from the back, along with two enormous weapon-pieces. One was a missile-launcher, and the other appeared to be some sort of strange machine gun. The machine gun was strapped to her side, while she held the missile launcher.

"You three little squirts don't have what it takes to beat the Dormu Anim! You DON'T!"

A magic blast cut across the battle field, but the three Dragon Slayers were already out of the way. Wendy flew high into the sky, before reducing her jets to a minimum, so that she merely hovered. The Dormu Anim looked up, charging its maw-laser, readying another magic blast. A hail of bullets hammered it in the face, knocking it down and to the side. Half of its face was torn to shreds, and its beam went off-course.

_'...what came after 'walking on'...?'_

Gajeel pondered this, tapping his foot and looking up to the sky, when the beam collided with him. The wave of energy crashed against him like a tidal wave against a mountain. For a moment, he seemed off-balance, forcing him to look directly up at the sun.

"OH, RIGHT!" Gajeel shouted, before suddenly taking off in Faust's direction.

"What are you doing! HEY, GET AWAY FROM ME!"

A series of laser shots erupted from the Dormu Anim's claws, but each and every shot didn't even seem to faze the Forge-wearer. Faust babbled incoherently for a moment, trying to activate the missiles, when Gajeel was right in front the Dormu Anim.

"WALKING ON SUNSHINE _PUNCH_!"

_CRUNCH_ went the Dormu Anim's left shoulder.

"AND DON'T I FEEL GOOD _KICK_!"

_CRUNCH_ groaned the Dormu Anim's lower torso.

"WOAH WOAH WOAHHHH _DOUBLE PUNCH_!"

_CRUNCH_ announced the Dormu Anim's chest plate.

"SHOOBY DOO BOP!"

The Dormu Anim's face loudly re-affirmed its comrades' statement, before it shot out its right arm, in a fist, to send Gajeel flying through the air. He let loose a battery of missiles. There was a loud whirring sound for a moment, then several blast sounds, and the battery of missiles exploded in-between Gajeel and the Dormu, sending the Forge-wearer even farther through the sky and rocking the Dormu Anim's structure.

"I am the Goddess of the Sky!" Wendy shouted down to Faust, "I rule the air!"

"Wretched little girl!" Faust screeched.

The Sky Dragon Slayer flew down, releasing a missile at the apex of her descent, before shooting back up into the sky. The missile crashed into the Dormu Anim's head, releasing a massive burst of fire and force, weakening it even further. She looked over to the side, her hair whipping about, giving her a wilder look.

"NATSU!"

Faust looked over, realizing he hadn't seen the Breaker-Natsu Natsu dashed over to the Dormu Anim, the armour on his elbows shifting about to form rocket boosters. The Breaker Armour revved louder and louder as Natsu shot across the field, almost too fast for the Dormu Anim (even in Black Sky mode) to keep up with. It levelled a cannon at Natsu, but before it could crack off the shot, three explosions consumed the cannon. The cannon itself received a fair amount of damage, but the real issue was the smoke that obscured Faust's vision.

"CRIMSON LOTUS BREAKER!"

The raging Fire Dragon Slayer's fist collided with the Dormu Anim's chest and a wave of force rocked the entire mechanical beast, blasting down a horde of trees fifty yards beyond their battle. Shrapnel from the Dormu flew out from it, and it began to crack. Then the _fire_ connected, and the front half of the beast was just simply _gone_. The structure collapsed, then, finally.

Natsu stumbled back, his armour steaming and falling off of him, slamming to the ground. Wendy hovered to the ground, her armour dropping off as well. Gajeel sat up, his upper body completely de-armoured. The Dragon Slayer Armours' magic was totally spent, partially due to Dormu Anim's Magic Draining nature. Each of the Dragon Slayers wearily got to their feet, no magic to speak of, their bodies wracked with the pain and exhaustion of having used the armours.

"Suck it, Faust," Edo-Terasu snarled.

A roar of utter rage and insanity erupted from the charred and broken remains of the Dormu Anim. Faust broke through the shrapnel, wielding a large trident that crackled with electricity.

"You will _all_ fall to the will of the King! MY DREAM WILL BE MADE REALITY!" King Faust roared.

Edo-Terasu shot forward, but the King was just quick enough to blast Edo-Terasu. He capitalized on his lucky shot and struck once more, piercing Edo-Terasu's chest with the trident. The Doc struck the King, and a crackle of energy flashed at the point of impact.

"Your soul is tainted with the blood of my wife. I'll KILL YOU TO PURGE IT!"

King Faust flew through the air, coughing up blood and crying out in pain as he hit the floor. Edo-Terasu pulled out the trident and groaned as he reached up to his bolt.

"Final Click... Urgh," Edo-Terasu murmured, twisting it.

The wounds in his chest healed over, but a moment later a flash of explosions erupted across his form and he crumpled to the ground, unconscious. The Dragon Slayers watched Faust stumble to his feet, barely able to move, themselves. A moment later, however, they realized the situation was well in hand. Faust stammered as he saw the figure appear in a whirl of smoke.

"Y-you... you're dead!"

"Perhaps I am. It will depend on your answer..."

"You damn fool!" Faust snarled, "Get out of my way! I have to bring eternal magic to all of Edoras! I HAVE TO!"

"Stop this... The war is over. Fairy Tail has won. You have lost, but Edoras will not fade. Edoras will not die without your so-called eternal magic."

"No! It will! You wretched failure of a son! I should have killed you when I had to kill your mother for you! Damn wretch!" Faust shouted, rushing forward.

"I won't fail with you."

The blue-haired mage pulled a staff from his back and drove it into the ground. A sigil came into being beneath Faust's feet and he found himself stuck there. Mystogan placed seven more staves into the ground around him, and the sigil intensified. Illusions of monsters, hordes of the great beasts, bore down on him. Faust fell to his knees, screaming and weeping, clawing at his face and closing his eyes tight to ignore the abominations. Their breath heated his face and the smells filled his nose, so that he couldn't get away from them even then. The illusion suddenly broke, and Faust fell to his hands and knees, still crying. He opened his eyes weakly to see a new sigil appearing in the ground below him.

"You're right. Gérard is dead. I am Mystogan, the new King of Edoras."

_FWOOSH_.

The light faded, and Faust was no more. Mystogan looked to his fellows, smiling in appreciation for that which they had done. He then turned towards the remnants of the battlefield, where soldiers still tried to fight off Edo-Fairy Tail and Fairy Tail. He seized one of the staves, employing its magic to amplify his voice.

"I AM THE PRINCE, COME BACK TO RECLAIM THE THRONE! FAUST IS DEAD! YOUR NEW KING IS MYSTOGAN!"

He sighed, grinning.

"**THE WAR IS OVER!**"

**End of Chapter Six**

_For the second __**fucking**__ time is this damn chapter over. I had to re-write this shit. DAMN._

_H'okay. One more chapter for you guys. Then onto other random shit._


	7. A Way More Fun Ending

**Chapter Seven: A Way More Fun Ending**

**More fics on the way, of course. This fandom is too much fun to write for.**

**And, **_**of course**_** I think this is a way more fun ending than "H'OH SNAP LOOKIT THAT LISANNA IS ALIVE!"**

**I hate Mashima, sometimes.**

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

After the fighting had ceased, the members of Fairy Tail, both Earthland and Edoras, had decided to settle down in the remains of the castle for the night. Edo-Terasu initially busied himself with dancing on Knightwalker's corpse, but eventually grew bored. Someone, likely Macao or Cana, changed the inevitable course of the night by finding several large tankards of booze.

The rest was drunken, blurry history.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Gildartz sat on the bar, gently swaying from side to side. There was a straw in the tankard beside him which he occasionally took sips from as the Edoras Fairy Tailers sitting at the bar talked to him about Edo-Gildartz and he regaled them with tails of his great adventures.

Cana sat in the floor, resting against an empty tankard and holding another. Edo-Cana looked down at her from the nearby table, smiling gently, yet nervously.

"Um, are you truly me? You seem so... terribly uncouth."

"Do you know how life sucks?"

"Well, I suppose the quality of life was rather poor a few days ago. But everything is wonderful, now."

"You got a broken heart?"

Edo-Cana bit her lip and looked to the side for a moment, before nodding, "I... yes."

"Well... that broken heart don't hurt as bad when ya drink. Plus, after the first few gulps, this stuff is freaking delicious..."

Edo-Cana looked at it, eyeing it suspiciously at first, until Cana got to her feet, wobbling a bit. The look-alikes stared at one another, and then the hard-drinking member slammed a tankard down on the table. She set a large straw in it and handed it to Edo-Cana, who gently sipped for a moment.

"Nah, you gotta gulp down a _whole_ lot at once, or else the buzz wears off too fast."

Edo-Cana took a deep breath, then began working on an even bigger gulp...

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Edo-Natsu and Edo-Lucy sat at one of the tables, casually chatting. Edo-Natsu sported a cast over his left arm and bandages all over his right arm. Edo-Lucy had bandages around her head, partially covering her left eye. Over the bandages was the goggles, sporting a crack down the center of the left eyepiece.

"When's the head-bandages coming off?"

"Two weeks, not that it's really a hindrance," Edo-Lucy said, shrugging, "You?"

"Cast's on for a month. The rest... about a week. Hey, sorry about the goggles. Need a new lens?"

Edo-Lucy reached up and pulled the goggles down, grinning for a moment, "Hell no. I'm keeping these just like they are."

Edo-Natsu nodded, quickly, smiling slightly. Edo-Lucy reached forward and gently grabbed one of his hands, just as Gajeel walked by. The Iron Dragon Slayer paused and looked at the two of them.

"...Erza's going to be _pissed_ if she sees you making out with Edoras' Lucy. Psychological thing, you see."

"B-but... why! We've known each other for years!"

"...eh? You've been here, like, three hours longer than I have."

Edo-Lucy face-palmed, "_No_, he's the Natsu who lives in Edoras."

Gajeel tilted his head, blinking, "Really, now? Huh. You two are beyond similar..."

He went on his way, whistling and carrying two tankards as he did so. Edo-Natsu and Edo-Lucy looked back at one another, blinking.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Edo-Gajeel laid on a cot on the floor in one of the back rooms, while Edo-Wendy placed a wet washcloth on his forehead.

"Come on... I don't need this much attention from you! You need to be out there partying. And I need to be busy seducing someone! That Earthland Cana is hotter than ours, and enjoys the drink almost as much as me. This is a perfect opportunity! _Dare I say golden!_"

"Only when I'm certain you're well enough," Edo-Wendy said, sharply rapping on his forehead.

"Hey... that hurt!"

"Do you know what hurt worse...?" Edo-Wendy asked, softly, "Thinking you were dead for the last year and a half."

"...fine. You're just gonna keep guilt-tripping me about that, aren't you? It was either that or let Knightwalker find our base... Come on..."

"I could've done it."

"Only you wouldn't have lived. Also, I totally beat Knightwalker's punk-ass. It was _Sugarboy_ who turned out to be the problem."

"The first one's dead and the second one is currently in what's left of the jail, probably talking with the Exceed Queen's representatives," Edo-Wendy said, placing a small device against Edo-Gajeel's temple.

"Can I punch him?" Edo-Gajeel asked, his voice almost innocent.

"Hrm... Well, if the reading on this is right, I could allow that. You're healthy again, uncle. Whatever effects the prototype had on your body have worked themselves through with the day of rest."

"Boring-ass day, too."

There was a knock at the door a moment later. Before either could respond, Zuri opened the door and looked in. After seeing the room was decent, she stepped in and smiled.

"Hey, older Wendy."

"Hiya, Zuri," Edo-Wendy said, off-handedly, as she re-fixed Edo-Gajeel's bandages.

"...you know, when you told me about your first experience being with someone named Zuri, you conveniently left off any pronouns. I assumed Zuri was a _guy_. This is disconcerting."

"Why? Cuz it's hot?" Zuri asked, sticking out her tongue.

"Well, _yeah_. Now, I can't even think of trying to have sex with you. And that's _annoying_."

"I take that as a challenge. Older Wendy, you can watch and learn the art of seduction, join in, or you may leave."

"I'm not having sex with my uncle, nor will I _observe_ that kind of act." 

"_Damn it_. I'll tell you when I'm done," Zuri said, winking at Edo-Wendy.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Charle and Happy sat in the middle of the table, while Pantherlily sat in a chair at the table. Pantherlily drank deep from a large, two-gallon mug, downing it in two gulps. Happy stared, clearly impressed, while Charle's eyebrow twitched for a moment, before the white Exceed simply shook her head.

"Wow... I've only seen Gildartz or Cana do better!" Happy declared.

Pantherlily grinned, "Glad to see someone's so amused. Not many of the Exceed imbibe like I do."

"I'd imagine not. How do you maintain such a form?" Charle asked.

"Training. Lots and lots of training of my own internal magic, until I could manifest and stay in this kind of form. It's best for fighting on the level of humans."

"Do you think we could do it, too?" Happy asked, lost for a moment in a daydream of carrying a more womanly Charle in a form that looked suspiciously like Pantherlily's, only blue and without the scar.

"I don't consider that form worth the effort. I've been able to protect Wendy in this form just fine. Becoming humanoid just sounds like it would cause problems."

"Might," Pantherlily said, shrugging, "It's also painful to maintain at times. I've trained to fight in this form, as I said. It's easy to fight in this form. But I suspect you two aren't combative, so I wouldn't recommend it."

Happy looked down, dreams of becoming a great, big cat-man shattered. He promptly forget any and all disappointment when Charle got to her feet and flew over to the bar. Pantherlily watched her for a moment, then turned back to Happy.

"Lucky kitten, wooing a girl like her," Pantherlily said, just low enough that Charle wouldn't be able to hear.

"Whaaaaa!"

Pantherlily grinned, as Charle landed on the table, her tail twitching nervously. She held up a fish to Happy, who blinked.

"It's a... gift, in return for the flower," Charle said.

Happy blinked, tilting his head in confusion, before remembering the white flower Lucy had picked for him just before the adventure to Edoras had started. He took the fish, smiling wide.

"Told ya," Pantherlily chuckled, standing up, "Now then. I hear the Queen arriving."

Charle's ears twitched, "I hear the sound of me getting farther away from this side of the castle. Stupid succubus..."

Happy listened for a moment, but wasn't able to pick out the noise, not being terribly familiar with what Charle was talking about.

"I'll probably go find Natsu. He can cook this for me!" Happy declared, "Thanks for the fish, Charle!"

Charle gave the slightest smile, "You are... welcome."

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Shagotte hovered lazily through the open doors of the castle, Edo-Terasu walking alongside her. Two odd Exceed with normal looking clothes (as opposed to armour) hovered just behind the Queen, appearing to be an older, married couple. Pantherlily flew down from the upper level of the castle to formally greet his Queen.

"Hello, your Majesty. Doctor."

"_The Doc_."

"Hello, Pantherlily. I have a task for you."

"Anything, my queen."

"Whipped," Edo-Terasu muttered.

Pantherlily glared daggers at the insane doctor, while Shagotte merely laughed.

"This task is to take care of those two Exceed who will undoubtedly be going back to Earthland."

"My... my queen. That would require my leaving Edoras..."

Shagotte nodded, solemnly, "Travel between our worlds must be limited, to avoid further discovery of multiple worlds. You likely won't be permitted to come back for quite some time. A year, minimum. Pantherlily, you are the only Exceed I can trust with this job. You know how important it is that those two stay safe."

Pantherlily's eyes widened after a moment, and then he nodded, putting his hand to his chest. He smiled and nodded.

"Yes, my queen."

"Is... is he really here, then?" the female Exceed behind Shagotte asked, timidly.

"Yes, I just spoke with him," Pantherlily said, "He should be with Natsu, Marl."

The pair flew off, the male Exceed seeming to grumble as he went. Pantherlily bowed to the queen, who shoo'd Edo-Terasu away and flew up to kiss Pantherlily gently on his forehead.

"Go off and enjoy your last night in Edoras," Shagotte whispered, softly.

Pantherlily stood up, grinning, "I shall, your majesty."

He walked off into the party, just as Charle hovered past him and approached the queen.

"Hello, your majesty," Charle said.

"You two are heroes of Edoras for having brought the Dragon Slayers here. You needn't address me as royalty."

"Hrm, yes. What are your plans, now?"

"To rule as we always have, really. Only this time through a ruler who is competent." 

"The Anima. What about them?"

"Moderated. The Magic problem is less of a problem than Faust made it out to be. He horded it, used it for the most ridiculous things. That won't happen with Mystogan as the King."

"...good," Charle said, nodding.

"Oh, Charle. Be wary, your pre-cognition should be activating soon."

"Pre-cognition...? What? Neither myself nor Happy have ever had anything close to that level of power activating."

"Oh, I'm certain your pre-cognition will activate soon. Should have, already, really."

Charle squinted, "How could you know a thing like that?"

Queen Shagotte grinned, as she began to leave, "Because it runs in the family."

The white Exceed stared at Shagotte as the Queen flew away, back up towards God's Island. Charle's hands clenched tight, and she looked down, tears trickling down her face.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Deep inside the castle, where few members of Fairy Tail, Earthland's or Edoras', walked about, sat Mystogan in a large, ornate throne. The King's throne. He quietly sat there, his face mostly covered by his normal attire. Edo-Terasu walked into the throne room, grinning from ear to ear.

"One hell of an entrance for a prodigal son, killing his father."

"Hello, Doc."

"...Boy, I _love_ you for being perhaps the first significant figure of authority to address me as "Doc". Also, you killed Faust, which pretty much sets you as aces in my book."

"Hm, yes. I will need your help, Doc."

"Keep calling me Doc and you've got my services pretty much forever. I'd suppose you have a spare room or two for me and my little girl?" 

"Of course. How is she?"

"Lonely. I've not been home in months."

"Ah. Yes, I'd suggest you go back to her, tonight."

"I intend to," Edo-Terasu said, grinning, "But not before I get drunk off my ass, first. Genius needs _serious_ rewards, and ole Shaggy ain't too keen on paying up nearly enough!"

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Natsu ran, then jumped and slid along the bartop, crashing through a few beer glasses on the way. Cackling madly, he flew off the bartop and slammed into the ground with an "OOF". Happy watched him, cracking a smile for a moment, before his expression became sad again. Natsu looked up at him, concerned.

"What's up? The bartop slide _always_ gets a laugh!"

"Well... it's... it's just that I figured that maybe I could... hopefully find my mom and dad here."

"Huh? You know who your parents are, though!"

"Buh?"

"Me and L... Lisanna," Natsu said, his gut clenching for a moment, "We're your parents, kiddo!"

"Yeah, I know... B-but... I just wanted to know if the mom who gave birth to me is still alive..."

The older Exceed couple hovered just behind Happy.

"Hello, Happy. I'm Marl."

"Baaaah! I'm Lucky."

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Wendy sat at a table on her own, happily doodling. It was the best way for her to focus her mind until she was able to block out most of her senses. Still, though, she was far too aware of Charle's scent and the sound of the Aera magic for her to stay focused on the drawing.

"Hiya, Charle, what's... up...? Are you okay?"

The Exceed simply nodded, quietly, and floated down into Wendy's lap, where the Air Dragon Slayer cradled her gently.

"I didn't know how much pain you really felt... when Grandine left... I didn't understand it," Charle whispered, her mutterings turning into a small whimper, "But now I do. And I know the feeling you'll have when you finally see her, again."

"Ch-charle...?"

The Exceed nuzzled into Wendy's stomach, beginning to snooze. Wendy watched her companion for a moment, then looked up to see Gajeel preparing to sit down.

"Hiya, kiddo."

"Hey, Gajeel... Be kinda quiet. Charle's always tired after she cries."

"...No, no. I won't try to remember this for later ammunition."

Wendy looked at Gajeel with half-closed eyes, "No need to be mean..."

Gajeel put up his hands in a defensive manner, "Nah, nah, I'm kidding. She's okay. Kind of a bitch."

Wendy blinked, then sighed and nodded, "Okay, fine. She kind of is."

The Iron Dragon Slayer let out a snort, grinning from ear to ear for a moment, "Good to admit your friend's faults. One of the toughest things to do."

"That seems easier than admitting one's own..."

"Depends on who you're talking to, I guess. I can freely admit that I brag too loudly and talk about women like they were, _ahem_, objects. Which is totally untrue, Wendy, and punch any guy in the crotch if they try to insinuate as much. Or let me get him. That'll be funnier."

Wendy blinked, "When... when did this become an issue of me meeting boys?"

"Well, girls can be just as heartless."

"...I'm glad Charle is sleeping. She would maul you for this advice."

"It's totally awesome advice and you know it, kiddo."

"Yes, uncle Gajeel."

A moment later, Pantherlily walked over to their table and crossed his arms, gaining the attention of both Dragon Slayers.

"I will be accompanying you in Earthland, Wendy," Pantherlily said, giving the slightest of nods.

Gajeel blinked, glanced at Charle, then at Pantherlily. Charle. Pantherlily. Wendy. Charle. Pantherlily. Wendy.

"...she gets two cats, while I have none? OH, HELL NO!"

"But, Gajeel, what about Death Metal?"

"Who, now?"

"Death Metal, that black cat you had back in...," Wendy trailed off, shaking her head.

"I am accompanying the girl and the Exceed. This is no argument here."

"OH, YES, THERE IS! DRINKING CONTEST, CAT!"

"...oh, this will be _funny_," Pantherlily said, his face slowly forming a toothy grin.

"I'm making you _my _cat!"

"What was that about talking about sentients as objects?" Wendy murmured.

"That's women, not cats," Gajeel said, grinning madly, holding up a gallon-sized cup.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Elfman and Edo-Elfman sat on adjacent barstools, staring into empty glasses. Earthland's Elfman clapped his counterpart on the back, inadvertantly smacking him into the bartop.

"Oh. Whoops. Sorry, me."

"Nah... It's cool. I'm used to it from Jet and Droy," Edo-Elfman muttered.

Elfman turned his head towards his fellow so slowly that the Edoras counterpart could've sworn he heard his neck _creaking_ as it moved.

"...wait, you mean to tell me... that Jet and Droy... taunt me? Here?"

"Er, yeah... They're amazingly strong..."

"Hold on."

Elfman reached over the bar and grabbed a tankard, which he drank deeply from, before spewing it over the wall behind the bar.

"OKAY, WHAT!"

"Y-yeah, man, it's no big deal. It's always been that way..."

"YOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUU ARE A DISGRACE TO THE ELFMAN NAME! YOU MUST BECOME A MANLY MAN OF MANLINESS!"

"...buh?"

Elfman grabbed Edo-Elfman by his head and rushed outside, "I WILL TEACH YOU MY MANLY MAN ROUTINE OF AWESOME THAT WILL EITHER CRAFT YOU INTO THE ULTIMATE WARRIOR OR SNAP EVERY BONE IN YOUR BODYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!"

"HELP ME!"

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

"So, I recommend making any further dresses out of _this_ cloth to make them resistant to alcohol. Saves you the trouble in the future," Mirajane said.

"Hm? Well, I'm not really into dresses," Edo-Mirajane said, pointing to indicate that she was in a two-piece bikini.

"Huh? I assumed that was just your party gear..."

"No, I like to show off my body," Edo-Mirajane said, "I'm proud of it."

Mirajane blinked, "W-what...?"

"What? You aren't proud enough to let the world see that you love your body?" 

"W-well... I do pin-ups. For the guild's fame..."

Edo-Mirajane put her finger to her lips, "Did you get money out of it?"

"Well, yes, but I really only used the money as an excuse. I did want to do the photos..."

"Oh? Well, I suppose that's good enough. You intend to show off your body more, later, surely!"

Mirajane looked down, blushing, "This reminds me of those conversations with Zuri..."

"...The succubus? You're insulting me!"

"N-No! She... well, she encouraged my exhibitionism... You know?" Mirajane said, with a giggle, "It was kind of funny, really..."

"Yes. 'Funny'. And did you get 'funny' all over the sheets?" Edo-Mirajane asked, her eyes narrowed.

"L-Lord, no! No! I don't... I don't really, actually have any interest in women..."

"_Really_, now?" Edo-Mirajane asked, blinking, "Because, well, a long time ago..."

"Is this going to be a story that deeply disturbs me?"

"Probably."

"Oh, dear..."

Edo-Lisanna leaned over the bar and snapped her fingers in-between the two girls.

"Hey! I don't really like hearing about my sister's sexual exploits," she said, giving a half-hearted glare.

"Oh, fine," Edo-Mirajane said, crossing her arms.

Mirajane looked at Edo-Lisanna for a long moment, smiling with tears forming in the corners of her eyes, gratitude evident in her smile.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

"Hey, mini-me," Edo-Wendy said, sitting down, "What's up?"

"I'm letting Charle nap. So, be a little quieter."

Edo-Wendy nodded, leaning forward, "Gotcha. Have you seen Gajeel and Pantherlily?"

"Yeah... I was there when it started."

"Well, currently, Pantherlily is break-dancing and Gajeel is singing. He stole someone's top hat and began moonwalking across the bartop-stage a few minutes ago. It's... well, funny doesn't cover it. And Gajeel continues to refer to Pantherlily as, and I quote, "mah cat". Everyone's just waiting for them to collapse."

Wendy giggled for a few seconds, shaking as she did so, before regaining control, "Oh, silly Gajeel..."

"The funny thing is that my Gajeel would totally do that," Edo-Wendy said.

"Nah, I'd be throwing in some awesome moves, myself, aside from just some moonwalking," Edo-Gajeel said, grinning from ear to ear as he sat down.

Following him was Zuri, who was wearing her dress backwards. The two sat down, smiling a bit. Zuri stretched, then popped her neck. Charle began to rouse from her nap, and looked up at Wendy, then over at Zuri. Her look of pleasant peace instantly went away upon sighting the succubus, but it calmed down to something like neutrality after a moment.

"...icky," Wendy murmured.

"What?" Edo-Gajeel asked.

"Only that I could hear it," Wendy said.

"...wait, what?" Zuri asked, blinking, "I picked the room farthest away from you, set you to drawing, and was quiet as I could _be_...!"

"And I could still hear it. I have better hearing than Charle, you know."

"Oh dear _lord_, then you've heard almost _everything_...!" Zuri exclaimed, her face white with shock, "For the entire week that I've been...!"

"Yep."

"...You feigned innocence on the matter," Charle said, her jaw practically at her feet.

"Yep!"

"B-but... _why_? Why would you do that?" Zuri asked.

"It was my secret revenge for you guys making me uncomfortable by talking about icky things."

"...What an _evil_, little girl," Edo-Wendy said, "I _love_ you, little me!"

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Erza stood out on the balcony on her own, watching the stars idly. She clenched the rail of the balcony, tightly, recalling the sick feeling of put her blade in Knightwalker's chest, of beheading the girl. Natsu walked out onto the balcony, his fingers interlocked behind his head.

"Hey, Erza," Natsu said, chuckling.

"Hey, Natsu..."

"Figured you'd be out here. I heard what happened. Saw the aftermath. And saw the crazy scientist _dancing_ on said aftermath."

"I feel... like some sort of inhuman monster."

"I've killed someone, too, Erza," Natsu said, his eyes darkening, "When Makarov nearly died, I was so infuriated that there was no way I could hold back against Enka."

"Enka is dif-"

"He was a living being. He lived, ate, had thoughts and motivations. He wasn't born, but he lived, Erza. And I stopped him from living. It's the same. I know how you feel, but there's something to remember in all of this..."

"What's that?"

"It's done. It happened, and there's no way to change it. You'll want to justify it to yourself each and every night. And you'll never really feel like you can be pure again, but the morning comes, and there's a moment, during the dawn, when everything feels alright again. Cling to that moment. Sometimes, it's all you have."

"...what...?" Erza asked, staring at Natsu, as he looked out to the stars.

"Of course, you've got something extra. You've got Lucy," Natsu said, "Keep her close... Cherish every moment you have with her. The bad will claw at you every night, but it's the shining memories that will keep you sane."

"When did...?"

"Enka wasn't the first person I killed, Erza."

"What?"

"If I had been there... If I had just made them stay..."

Natsu took in a deep breath, "But I'll just keep remembering Lisanna's face, as it was. And I won't give in. So don't you dare, either. Hear me?"

Erza nodded, simply, smiling.

"Thank you..."

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Gray patted Edo-Gray on the back, gently, chuckling.

"Nah, man, your Juvia totally digs you. Hell, I think it's the only match-up here aside from Alzy and Biscuit that I've seen to be the same."

"She ignores me, though."

"...eh, I inadvertantly ignored Juvia for the longest time. Mostly because I'm kind of dumb."

Juvia sighed and laid her head on Gray's shoulder, "Yes, but it was so fascinating and hot."

Gray kissed Juvia's forehead, and looked over at Edo-Gray, "You'll totally have this in time. Just be patient."

"...how did you get your shirt off while holding Juvia?"

"Did I?" Gray asked, looking down to notice he had, "...Oh. Huh. So I did."

**(Author's Note: Bet I know what room that's useful in. Wink!)**

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Edo-Levy and Levy stared at one another for a moment, unblinking.

"Lesbian?"

"Polygamy?"

Jet and Droy stared at their counterparts in what could only be described as jealous rage.

"We're building up to anything like that," Edo-Jet said, shrugging.

"You mean you rejected our counterparts in a split-second?" Edo-Droy asked Levy.

"One second!" Droy said, hastily.

"Two seconds," Jet grumbled.

"What? I don't like guys... It's kind of why it happened like it did," Levy said, apologetically.

"With you having gratuitous amounts of sex with a succubus?"

Jet and Droy looked ready to faint, nosebleeding, but managed to stay awake.

"...YUS!" Levy declared, giving a 'peace' sign.

Jet, Droy, Edo-Jet, and Edo-Droy then collapsed, nose-bleeding profusely.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

"You... you mean you confessed love for one another _immediately_?" Alzack asked.

Edo-Alzack and Edo-Bisca nodded.

"We couldn't get the words out fast enough," Edo-Bisca said, smiling.

Bisca and Alzack glanced at one another, then at their counterparts, blushing.

"Awwwww, how cute. They're in that in-between stage! Like how our Natsu and Lucy have been for... months!"

"Well, their stage seems less violent," Edo-Alzack replied.

The Earthland gun-wielders blinked, staring at one another for a moment, before they rushed in the opposite direction, proclaiming a need for drinks.

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

Makarov sat on top of a tankard, grinning as he observed Fairy Tail and Edo-Fairy Tail laughing, dancing, and rushing about. Gajeel and Pantherlily had begun a break-dancing contest, which eventually degenerated into 'break everyone's bones' contest after Edo-Terasu had been declared the winner. Fists flew and half the bar was consumed by the fight. The master of Earthland's Fairy Tail laughed to himself.

"No matter where they're from... No matter the world... Fairy Tail will always be Fairy Tail."

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

The fighting would have continued for well over half the night if Lucy hadn't stepped in. Wielding the Key of Aries, she flung a horde of wool balls, which encircled all the members, trapping them in fluffy, soft warmth. Lucy sat on the barstool, watching them all, amused enough to ignore the twang of nervousness from Aries. Hurriedly, she dispelled the Gate of the Ram and summoned up Gemi and Mini.

Her eyes became the odd circles that the summons had for eyes. She looked out over the crowd for a moment, before her appearance shifted to that of Gajeel's.

"Shoopy doo bop?" she said, questioningly.

"Hell yeah!" the real Gajeel shouted back.

Lucy-Gajeel grinned, before becoming Mirajane.

"Become me!" Edo-Mirajane shouted.

"That's... pretty much the same, except...," Lucy said, taking off the dress to reveal white undergarments, "This, right?"

"...I'd be enraged if I wasn't trying to experience this as an exercise in appreciating my body," Mirajane said.

"...I can _definitely_ appreciate this body!" Lucy laughed, before morphing back.

However, as it turns out, she made the mistake of just ripping off Mirajane's clothing to become Edo-Mirajane, rather than purposefully shifting using the summon's powers. So, when she became her actual form, she found herself sitting on the bartop in just her undergarments, which had been meant for Erza's exclusive viewing, meaning they were more than a little provocative.

"...Skank!" Edo-Lucy cried out from the crowd.

"No, she's just displaying her body. Be proud of your skin and assets!" 

"Assets to be proud of, alright!" Gajeel shouted, "Damn, baby!"

"One more comment on my beloved's current state of dress and I will be forced to use violence," Erza said, cutting through the chatter of the audience

Lucy looked up, giddily, to see someone who wasn't gawking at her body... only to see her lover gawking at her body. The blonde mage fell back off of the bartop in shock, and the nose-bleeding Titania rushed to get her.

The night didn't last much longer, as the alcohol eventually dragged everyone into a particularly giddy dreamland...

_**-FAIRY TAIRU-**_

All of Fairy Tail and Edo-Fairy Tail gathered together just outside the castle. The Imperial Guard had been sent away early on in the morning, to either patrol the jail cell or the city itself, far away from the castle. Everyone mingled a little, many of them very clearly hungover.

"...alcohol... is amazing... but the after-effects are a killer," Edo-Cana grumbled.

"I find more alcohol gets rid of it," Cana said, drinking again.

Edo-Terasu approached the group with a device in one hand, and his other hand on the shoulder of a girl with particularly tan skin... Lucy looked over at her and her heart stopped. Erza saw where Lucy stared and her entire body went into response before her mind exactly processed what was happening. She dashed forward, rage blinding her. Edo-Terasu leaped through the air and spun-kicked Erza across the face, tapping back down.

"This is my _daughter_, you two dolts. Quit scaring her. Venny, dearest, this is Fairy Tail from Earthland. They are mostly comprised of _morons..._"

"They sound so funny, though! I wish I could've been here last night, when everything was all fun. I wanted to try alcohol...!"

"And that's exactly why you're not allowed at daddy's parties."

"Awww..."

"Come on, now, we've got a portal to open, my little genius."

"Yes, daddy!"

Erza watched as Edo-Terasu and his daughter, Edo-Venny, set to work. Watched them work _together_ so easily and fluidly, without an ounce of tension or a spot of hatred. There was no cruelty in this young girl's eyes, no horrible ideas of justice and what is or is not deserved.

Titania sighed, recalling the broken, vengeful man and his twisted "daughter", comparing them for a moment to this image before her and finding it... lacking. Terasu and Venny were dealt with, gone. The darkness in the night that tried to rend her, until the morning came. Just like Knightwalker, and herself...

She would never really forgive what happened, as Lucy apparently had. She could never truly forget, as desperately as she may have wished. But she could let go... Make what peace she could. The portal opened. Mystogan stood beside it, looking out over his comrades.

"Magnolia as a whole has been delachrymized," Edo-Terasu said, looking over at Mystogan, "And in it's proper positioning, as well."

"I... I regret never truly getting to know you, with my time on Earthland being as limited as it was," he said, "But know that I will always be on the side of Fairy Tail. I will never leave this guild, for all it has provided me. A sense of a place I could, even for a minute, call home. Thank you."

All of Fairy Tail looked at him for a moment, grinning or crying, as they slowly began to move into the portal. Wendy and Zuri looked back and waved at Edo-Wendy, before leaping into the portal at least, leaving behind the strange, alternate world.

Mystogan looked out over his Fairy Tail for a moment, chuckling, "And with that, the dark ages of Faust are done. We have to restore this land to a proper magical country, again! We can, and we will! BECAUSE-!"

"WE ARE FAIRY TAIL!"

Mystogan nodded, "And Fairy Tail can do _anything_."

_**-FAIRY TAIL-**_

The entire guild moved on with life as normal, because really, nothing _was_ normal. If it wasn't Take-Over Beasts nearly killing them, or a formerly legal guild turning on them over one of their members, or a ridiculous gambit involving an attempt to sacrifice one of their own to bring to life the Black Mage Zeref, then it was sure to be alternate dimensions. Whatever.

Lucy, Erza, and Zuri met up outside Fairy Hills.

"So, your homelands, huh?" Lucy asked.

"Yeah, it'll be... interesting," Zuri said.

"How's this competition going to work out?" Erza asked, "And do either of us need to be nearby?"

"Oh, lord, no. Dare I say the opposite."

Wendy looked out the door, her eyes wide, "Are you sure I can't come...?"

"NO!" Erza, Lucy, and Zuri shouted at the same time.

"Awwww...," the little girl said, retreating.

"New adventures everyday," Lucy said, "And I get the feeling this one is going to be one of our weirder ones."

"Well, if Fu is around, it will be," Zuri muttered.

"What?" 

"Oh, nothing of consequence. Hopefully."

**THE END**

_**Omake**_

"What, aren't the Jet and Droy in your world tough?" Edo-Elfman asked.

"...NO! Watch!"

Elfman swung his fist out behind him just as Jet walked past, smashing in his face and sending him flying into Droy. The pair became a crumpled heap on the floor. Edo-Elfman stared.

"...Ah."

_**Omake**_

Edo-Wendy nodded, leaning forward, "Gotcha. Have you seen Gajeel and Pantherlily?"

"Yeah... I was there when it started."

"Well, currently, Pantherlily is break-dancing and Gajeel is singing. He stole someone's tophat and began moonwalking across the bartop-stage a few minutes ago. It's... well, all over YouTube doesn't cover it."

_**Author's Final Note.**_

_**Yep, this is the totality of Re: Edoras. There's a thing or two about Mashima's I kind of wish I had kept, but feel justified in having changed them (ie. not having known he was going for that kind of plot twist with Charle's pre-cognition being the source of her visions, but MEEEEHHHHHH), but overall I think this one was... better, really.**_

_**Opinions?**_

_**All that aside, of course there's going to be another story, eventually. Expect "The Homelands", "Diez And Unit's Excellent Adventure", "Purple Paradise", and more in time.**_


End file.
